


Thawing Distance

by Simarillion



Series: Glaciology! Verse [6]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: M/M, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-16
Updated: 2011-04-16
Packaged: 2017-10-18 04:09:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/184809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Simarillion/pseuds/Simarillion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One step forward, two steps back. (Of repairing something broken and second chances)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: None of the herein presented happenings and events are true. Everything is 100% fiction and that includes the sexuality of the characters. I don't claim to be in the know about their relations and private affairs, and I don't make any money with the creation of this story.
> 
> A/N: This is part 6 of the Glaciology! 'verse. Jensen is a scientist in the field of glaciology and he spends most of his time surrounded by ice, whereas Jared is a Hollywood movie star. Prequel to this story are Invisible Glaciers, Iceberg Anatomy, Avalanches Approaching, Crevasse Rescue, and Shelf Ice Meander.

When Jensen steps out of the shabby plane that took them to a small airfield outside Quito, he seriously considers turning around and asking to be taken back home. It’s not the heat that troubles him, being born and raised in Texas, he knows how to handle that, but the freaking humidity has his clothes sticking to his body in mere seconds. Jensen hates feeling sweaty and sticky, like he hasn’t taken a shower in weeks.

David just grins at him like a madman, and Sarah shakes her head, giving Jensen a sad look, to signal her understanding of Jensen’s suffering. With a heavy sigh he hitches the backpack up on his shoulders and steps away from his only means of escape.

There’s a local guide waiting for them. The expedition will be without guidance, but it had been decided to visit some villages before heading out into the jungle. They want to hear from the locals how bad the situation really is.

Paolo is tiny compared to them. Even Jensen feels like a giant, and after spending time with one Jared Padalecki, that’s no easy feat. Jensen silently follows the others off the runway over to the rusty corrugated metal building of the hangar, where a small bus is waiting for them. The vehicle looks as trustworthy as their plane had looked, and Jensen wonders why someone like David, who has enough money to buy a fleet of planes and busses of his own, insists on using such heaps of scrap.

They pile into the bus, stacking their backpacks and sleeping rolls in the trunk. Jensen is wedged against the window and Sarah on the back seat, the metal of the chassis scalding hot. He tries his best to keep from touching it with his bare skin.

“¡Bienvenidos a Ecuador! Espero que el viaje fue agradable.” It’s been years since Jensen last spoke Spanish, and his high school education was not too educational to begin with. He wracks his brain to keep up with the lively chatter between Paolo and Peter, who cheerfully discuss their journey and the schedule of the next couple of days with their guide.

“Thank god at least one of us speaks a language people understand.” Sarah rolls her shoulders, and in the process elbows Jensen in the side. “Oops, sorry.”

“Don’t worry.” He tries to move a little further away from her, but when his arm is pressed against the hot frame of the car, he stops any attempt of moving.

“Well, the villagers will mostly speak Quechua. So, our Spanish is of not as great a help as one would assume.” David winks at them, and then turns to watch the landscape pass by.

“Awesome.” Sarah huffs, but a light nudge from David (whose eyes never leave the window) has her smile again.

Jensen grins at his friends’ behavior. For years now he’s been watching the two of them tease each other, the affection between them strong and easy for everyone to see. So far they have been avoiding the topic of the attraction between them, and the continuous sexual tension, is wearing on the people around them. There are times when Jensen, or Peter, or someone else, had wanted to bang their heads together and tell them to get a clue.

Their drive takes them out of the airfield and down the road to something that passes as a highway around these parts. There are more potholes than anything else, and half of the time Jensen is sure that the bus is going to just break apart, at least lose some part of the car.

Of course, the bus doesn’t have any air conditioning, and after spending about an hour in the car together, wedged against each other, and the interior of the bus heating up like an oven, the smell is getting rather ripe. It’s a really revolting mixture of sweat, deodorant, dirt, and exhaust.

It takes them almost three hours to reach the turn to the part of the jungle they are heading for. The Pinchincha volcano has long disappeared from sight, and the dirt road they are taking from here on is more dirt track than a real road. At least there aren’t any potholes anymore. About a mile back they passed the cadaver of a fifteen feet long snake, the body bloated from the heat and the decomposition.

The foliage is a lush green, and the trees are huge, much taller than any tree Jensen has ever seen in his life. Their bus trundles down the road for two more hours and by the time they finally reach their destination Jensen is sure that he will never again be able to sit down. It hurts so much.

The village consists of huts and one small shop that is nothing but a cubicle that sells food and drinks, and a couple of other items. People watch their arrival curiously, but they keep their distance at first. Apparently it hasn’t been decided so far, if they are welcome or not.

They get their backpacks and sleeping rolls out of the car, and Paolo shows them to their accommodations. The house looks rather rundown, but it’s at least made of stone and mortar. Inside the rooms are mostly empty. There are the odd pieces of furniture, but concrete and whitish painted walls dominate the interior of the building. The bathroom and the kitchen are the two rooms with the most amount of furniture.

Jensen gets his own room assigned (just like everyone else of the group), and he drops his backpack onto the mattress. A rustling sound has him look up and he notices that the roof and the wall do not touch. There’s a gap right under the roof, and a small lizard is wedging through it into the room. For a couple of seconds Jensen just stares at the display, before it dawns on him that lizards are not the only animals that will be getting inside.

With a shudder he turns around and makes to ask David if they can swap rooms. As it turns out, all the rooms have this gap, and critters, lizards, and bugs crawling around the house is nothing out of the ordinary.

Jensen thinks that he should have taken the chance to escape when he still had had it. Now it’s too late. He’ll have to share his bedroom with the rest of the jungle. That’s one thing he likes so much about snow and ice. Sleeping in a tent in the Artic Region, there are not crawlies that get into the tent and snuggle up to you during the night.

They head out, strolling through the dusty streets of the village. There is a group of teenagers, and a couple of younger kids, that watch them attentively. After David gives his granola bar to a little girl, the whole group cheerfully shows them around.

The huts and houses look worn and dirty, but it’s also obvious how much care and love has gone into the constructing, maintaining and decorating of the buildings. In the States people would have been appalled by the condition everything is in, but somehow the houses and the streets and to people all mesh with the jungle around them, giving it a very natural look.

In front of the store, which sells self-made booze, a monkey is sitting on the porch, and eats a tropical fruit, the juices dripping on his fur. The little fellow eyes them indifferently, and when the kids reach out to pet him, cheering with their high voices, the mammal doesn’t even react to it.

Peter buys some rum, a coke and some fruit juices, he’s murmuring something about cocktails, and Sarah just rolls her eyes at him. She gets some fruits and vegetables, and buys three bottles of water. Jensen decides to follow her lead and get some water as well, getting a bar of chocolate, and after seeing the children watching them all ‘subtle’, he buys a bag of candy for them.

He hands out the purchases, earning him bright smiles and a lot of laughing. They slowly walk back to their temporary home, and start setting everything up for a home base. There will be times when they stay in the jungle for a couple of days, but on the whole they’ll be able to come back and work on their reports and their documentation. It’s also the only way for them to keep in contact with the rest of the world. There’s an internet connection, which works sometimes, and postal services has a drop off once a week as well.

“I like it.” David sprawls on the dubious couch in the room they’ve decided on to be the living and dining room. He’s sipping water from a plastic bottle, and closes his eyes, enjoying the relative peace of their surrounding.

“Sure you would.” Peter drags the rickety side table in front of the couch, and sets up three chairs (one from the kitchen and two from the back of the house). He puts four cups on the table and unscrews the rum bottle, filling the cups almost half full.

“I hope you aren’t wanting me to drink that.” Jensen eyes the liquor warily. After all the heat and humidity, and eating almost nothing besides a small breakfast, there’s no way Jensen can drink that much alcohol.

“Cheers, Jensen.” Peter has topped the cups up with passion fruit juice and a spoonful of cane sugar, and hands the cocktails out. “Don’t be a pansy ass about it.”

Jensen watches Sarah take a tentative sip from her cup, but she brightens quickly enough, taking a much larger sip right away. “It’s really good.”

“Sure it is.” Peter starts drinking with gusto, humming contentedly.

Jensen eyes the cup in front of him suspiciously and only when David takes a sip from the cocktail, does he brave the self-made drink. The taste of it is very refreshing, and soon they are drinking and talking, enjoying their arrival in the Ecuadorian jungle.

Their laughing and planning goes on for some time, the cups being refilled and emptied again, and then they break into the bottle of tequila Peter brought with him, starting on really fancy drinks like coladas and sours. By the time he’s had four and a half cups of cocktails, Jensen is chuckling about everything he sees around him. The concrete floor is hilarious, so are the gaps between the roof and the walls, and Jensen can’t help but snort when thinking about bugs and spiders.

Sarah is grinning happily. Jensen wonders for a second about the potency of the drinks Peter is mixing before he’s back to chuckling about something David said, who’s waving his arms around, talking about a boat made of plastic bottles. Jensen thinks David is real funny.

Their booze enabler isn’t any better off than they are, and by now Peter is sloshing most of the concoctions on the floor and the rickety table, the cups starting to stick to the plywood top.

Once again Jensen snorts, thinking about Jared and Chad, and the farewell party in Alaska. Sam’s self-made liquor had been a blast back then as well. There’s something about drinks that you are making or mixing yourself that is just awesome.

Contemplating the merits of cocktail mixing, and mumbling happily to himself, Jensen is rather stunned when something drops from the ceiling onto his lap. Slowly, and a bit stupidly, he looks down at his lap and finds a tarantula sitting there. Jensen blinks once, then twice, and then he looks back up, over to David.

“Dude, there’s a spider on my lap.” Said spider has decided that it doesn’t like the place it is currently sitting on, and starts to crawl, quite speedily up the front to Jensen’s chest. Slowly, almost like in slow motion, Jensen tries to brush the tarantula off, but he just keeps missing the furry black and red body.

Sarah just points at him and giggles, and Peter hugs his tequila bottle to his own chest, as if the spider might take it away from him. David alone is coordinated enough to stagger over to Jensen, and try to help him with getting rid of the spider hurriedly crawling up higher and higher, almost at Jensen’s throat now.

In his drunken state Jensen starts to panic. If there’s one thing he absolutely hates and abhors, it’s spiders, and the big tarantula is just too much for him. If he had been sober, he would already have panicked when the spider dropped from the ceiling, but as it is, he’s getting worried when the spider reaches the collar of his shirt.

It is more dumb luck than anything else, that has David finally brush the tarantula off Jensen, and they watch the spider crawl away, towards the walls, where it climbs to the ceiling and bunkers down in a corner. Jensen is sure that its many eyes are glaring at them.

For the rest of the evening Jensen warily eyes the corner where the spider is sitting, and still he misses the final escape. Between one check up and the next, the tarantula is just gone. Nervously he turns his head around, but he can’t find her again. She’s just disappeared.

This night, once they are making their staggering way to the bedrooms, Jensen sleeps very badly. Even though he’s tired and the alcohol has taken its toll, the fear of other animals crawling into his room, has him constantly checking the walls and corners.

And of course, there’s the noise. One would think that out here in the jungle, without the traffic, and all the cars and other loud gadgets, life would be all quiet, but there’s nothing to the noise that is a jungle at night. There are birds, and monkeys, and frogs, and other animals. Calling, crying, hooting, and screaming. Jensen turns from one side to the other. The rustling of leaves and the scratches of branches against the roof and the outer walls, have him tense and anxious.

The next morning Jensen gets up more tired than he went to bed. His eyes itch, because he forgot to take out the contact lenses, and he’s somewhat nauseous from the huge amounts of alcohol he consumed the evening before. Slowly he trudges down the corridor to the bathroom, where he finds a lizard sleeping on the lid of the toilet.

The reptile quickly leaves, when Jensen comes into the room, and once Jensen has relieved himself, he feels somewhat better. A quick splash of water in the face, his wet fingers carding through his hair to get it into something resembling an order, and wiping his chest, neck, arms and pits with a wet rag, is all the cleaning he gets.

Jensen pulls on the pants of the previous day but gets a new shirt. With the rate those are getting sweaty and stinking, he’ll have to do laundry every day.

Sarah is already in the kitchen, preparing coffee and cereal. Apparently she had already been shopping that morning, getting more food and provisions for their expeditions into the deeper regions of the jungle. There are white plastic bags, bulging with their contents, and the fridge is humming cheerfully with the effort it puts into cooling the foods inside.

“Morning.” At Jensen’s greeting Sarah turns around and smiles at him.

“Morning. You want some cereal as well?” Jensen just nods and sits down on the kitchen chair. Glancing at the couch, he notices that she had apparently cleaned up last night’s mess as well. The rickety table is still in front of the couch (serving as an impromptu coffee table), but the chairs are all in the kitchen now, together with a wooden crate that serves as a fourth chair.

Just as Jensen has finished his observation and directed his attention back to Sarah, she sets his bowl of cereal down in front of him, together with a cup of coffee. Smiling at her gratefully, Jensen mumbles a thanks, and starts shoveling the sugary breakfast food into his mouth.

While they are eating their breakfast in companionable silence, David joins them and after pouring himself a cup of coffee, and taking a bowl of dry cereal, he sits down at the table with them. He’s frowning at the table top, and squints at the light. It almost seems like the night of drinking hadn’t really agreed with him either.

“Rough night?” Jensen can’t help but tease. The only answer he gets is a distraught moan, and David rubbing his temples. “Guess I’m right about that.”

David just pours his coffee over the fruit loops, and starts eating. Jensen watches on in disgusted shock, but when neither Sarah, nor David comment on it, he goes back to eating himself. Silence reigns over their repast, and once they are finished, David disappears back to where he came from. Hopefully getting a shower, because he had smelled rather ripe.

Between Jensen and Sarah, the cleaning of the breakfast dishes (three bowls, three cups and three spoons) is done in seconds, and Jensen helps her put away all the purchases she made. Most of the canned and dried food goes into the cupboards, the fresh fruit, vegetables, and dairy products are already in the fridge, and the water and other drinks are put away into the pantry.

It is there that Jensen has a déjà vu, when he comes almost face to face with a large black and red tarantula, which is sitting on the floor. In his surprise he almost screams (all manly of course), and Sarah just laughs heartily at his white face.

“Very funny.” He grumbles, but he can’t be upset with her behavior. He has to admit that it’s just too hilarious.

They have just finished putting everything away, and cleaning the kitchen (to make sure that no ants or other animals are attracted to come inside), when David makes a reappearance, showered and dressed to go out.

“Come on, Paolo promised to take us to one of the rivers where they are dumping the mercury into the water. It’s really close to the village.” And just like that the happiness and the joking of last night and this morning are gone. Jensen is reminded of the reason for their trip.

The three of them (Peter is still dead to the world) head out, and find their guide at the shop, where he’s chatting with some of the locals. The language is definitely not Spanish, that much Jensen can determine, most probably they are speaking Quechua.

When Paolo sees them, he smiles brightly. “¡Buenos días Señores y Señora!”

They all say their own Buenos días and nod at the others in greeting. A rather amusing (for the people watching at least) conversation starts after that. Paolo speaks Quechua and Spanish, but almost no English. The locals speak little Spanish, no English and mostly Quechua, and Jensen speaks a little Spanish, English, and no Quechua.

In the end they manage to get some information on the factories and facilities a couple of miles away, which dump their garbage and waste material (toxic or non-toxic) into the rivers and creeks of the jungle. Horrid stories about areas devoid of life, and polluted by oil, mercury and other dangerous materials are being told, and Jensen feels sick to his stomach hearing about all the destruction that is done to this place.

Paolo gets the directions to the place and once they said their thanks and goodbyes, Sarah, David and Jensen follow their guide to the bus. It will take them about thirty minutes to get to the river that is closest to the village. The drive is quiet, and every member of the expedition is tense with the anticipation of what they are going to find.

When they arrive at the place, Jensen stares at the destruction in horror. He has seen the good and the bad of mankind in his life, at least that’s what he’s thought in the past, but seeing death staring right back at him, dead animals, trees, earth, Jensen wonders how humans can do something that awful.


	2. Chapter 2

Returning to the States after trekking through the jungle for a month, seeing more death and horror than Jensen ever thought he would see, is like returning to a different world, a completely different universe. It’s like that nineties TV show, where the ragtag group of main characters are jumping through some kind of bizarre worm whole and slide from one universe to the next, in the search for their own home universe.

The people and the noise of machines are so different to the jungle with its animals and plants. There are so many people at the San Francisco airport, and while Jensen waits for his connecting flight to Los Angeles, he can’t help but compare the lives of the rather ignorant crowd around him, to the tribes of Natives in the jungles, who are hunted and killed on sight.

Pictures of dead animals, polluted nature, and people who had been shot is something that will stay with him forever. He feels bizarrely grateful that he was able to witness these things. It was a necessary wake up call from the life he’s been leading so far.

He said his goodbyes to David, Peter and Sarah right after they landed, and now he’s sitting in a Starbucks sipping over priced coffee in a paper cup that gets thrown away and adds to the ever growing pile of garbage that is produced by civilization. Jensen knows that he is being rather harsh right now. The images of what he saw in Ecuador are still too fresh, to not be like that.

As he takes another sip, his phone vibrates in his pocket, and Jensen flips it open to find a message from Jared waiting for him. Jensen opens it and starts reading.

Will be waiting 4 u @ airport.

This has Jensen smile for the first time since he arrived in San Francisco. Seeing and being with Jared is just what he needs right now. Jared’s cheerfulness and happiness will be like a soothing balm on his soul. Combine Jared with Linda’s cooking and Dean, and Jensen is almost back to his old self.

He gets a newspaper and a magazine at the bookstore (this is almost a ritual with him now), and waits at the gate for it to open and let the passengers board the plane. There’s a young mother with a very whiny child sitting next to him, the boy constantly screaming and throwing a tantrum because of one thing or another. It doesn’t take long before Jensen can feel a headache coming on.

Unfortunately there’s nowhere he can go, and with the woman flying to LA as well, it means that Jensen will get to listen to the spoilt brat for at least another hour. When he suddenly remembers that he packed his ipod, Jensen sighs with relief, and starts digging through the backpack, searching for the mp3 player.

The buds plugged into his ears, Jensen enjoys the Kate Nash album Sarah foisted onto him. But even the music can’t drown out the ruckus going on.

The boy shouts and screams, and throws tantrums, and bites one of the flight attendants who tries to calm him down, and pours his Coke all over the guy sitting right across the aisle, and screams some more, and throws another tantrum. Jensen just wants to strangle the kid. Never before in his life has he longed to do another person bodily harm, but with this boy he wants it so much, he can almost taste it.

Even the ipod is of no help. The music is blaring into his ear, but the boy manages to be even louder than that.

When they are preparing for the landing, Jensen thanks every deity he can think of and buckles in, all anticipation for the boy to leave.

The other passengers are divided into two groups. Those who flee the plane as fast as possible, to be gone before the family with the horrible boy de-boards, and those who stay a bit longer, to wait until the family is gone. Jensen is one of the latter. He figures that if he waits on the plane, chances are his bags will already be on the luggage carousel, and he won’t have to wait for them to arrive, alongside the hell spawn.

And his plan works. When he arrives to get his bags, the boy is already gone. The silence the kid left in his wake is almost over-whelming after the hour-long (with the time at the gate even longer than that) duration of constant screaming. For the first time in his life Jensen is glad that he can’t become a father (not naturally at least) with his partner.

Packing his luggage onto a cart, he pushes it to the exit, already anxious to see Jared again. His month in the Ecuadorian jungle put a lot of things into perspective for him, and Jensen has come to the conclusion that he forgives Jared, in fact has already done so. Which doesn’t mean that he’ll make it easy for him. Jared will be the last to know that he’s off the hook.

Internally chuckling about his terrific plan, Jensen reaches the arrival area, where he promptly meets his nemesis, the annoying kid, again.

The boy is lying on the ground, beating his fists, and kicking with all his might. His face is all crunched up and bright red with anger, tears streaming down his cheeks.

When Jensen sees the look on Jared’s face, the shock and horror, he can’t help himself, he starts laughing. Loud and from deep in his belly. The sound drowns out even the kid’s screaming, and it has a very interesting effect on the boy, who stops his tantrum and looks at him with confusion. Apparently this is the first time his behavior got this particular reaction.

With a wink and a broad smile, Jensen carts his bags past the boy on the floor, and joins Jared, who grins amusedly at him.

“It’s good to see you again, _child whisperer_.” Jared chuckles about the joke he made.

“How funny, idiot.” Jensen grins back, and tries to hug Jared, who leans down and captures Jensen’s lips in a kiss. Jared gathers Jensen close to him and deepens the kiss. In broad daylight. In public.

Blood is rushing to his head. To both of them. While his face is hot and red, a little embarrassed by the public display of affection, his other head is very turned on by it. Who would have thought that Jensen gets all hot and bothered by Jared staking his claim in front of strangers. Not him, that’s for sure.

“Huh, is this what I think it is?”

Jensen buries his face against the side of Jared’s neck and mutters “idiot” against the skin. Leave it to Jared to make an already embarrassing situation twice as embarrassing.

Jared just laughs and hugs Jensen closer to his body, hiding Jensen’s reaction to the PDA from the crowd of people that are watching them with interest. Which shouldn’t really come as a surprise, since Jared can’t go anywhere without being recognized, and ever since Jared’s public outing on TV, Jensen’s face has gotten its fair share of public exposure as well. It’s just that with his time in South America, in the jungle, Jensen all but forgot about it.

A girl, maybe a young woman, steps up to them, clutching a small notebook and a pen, eyeing Jared nervously. She stops a couple of steps away and seems to gather all her courage to finish what she started.

Jensen untangles himself from Jared’s embrace and watches amused how the girl shuffles closer and then holds out the open notebook and the pen.

“Can I have your autograph?” She blushes when Jared smiles brightly at her.

“Sure. What’s your name?” Jensen has always known that Jared is good at this celebrity thing, but the easiness with which he deals with strangers, walking up to him, wanting him to sign pictures, books, clothing, and other stuff, takes Jensen by surprise every time. He knows that if the same thing happened to him, he would be flustered, and blushing, and make himself look like a complete idiot.

Jared signs the blank page of the notebook with flourish and writes a short message above his autograph. When he hands pen and paper back to the girl, she blushes some more and clutches her treasure to her chest, as if to protect it from possible thieves. Maybe there are a lot of autograph thefts in reality, how should Jensen know?

The sudden direction of her attention from Jared to Jensen, takes him by surprise. She shuffles a little and then she holds the notebook out to him as well. This time around, she blushes so hard; Jensen thinks her head might explode with the sudden rush of blood.

“Uh, can I have your autograph as well?” She looks at him all hopeful, and Jared gives him a nudge into the girl’s direction.

“Go on, sign it.” Jensen stares at the blank page next to Jared’s autograph, and at the pen that is being held out to him. When his hesitation has her believing that he won’t sign her notebook, and she starts to retreat, Jensen finally manages to get out of the daze he’s been in.

“Um, sure, I can sign your notebook.” He stumbles over the words and blushes, embarrassed by his less than smooth handling of the request. It is far less smooth than Jared’s had been.

When he takes the notebook and the pen from the girl, she smiles brightly at him, totally excited by the idea of getting Jensen’s autograph, like he’s famous or something. Jensen wracks his brain until he remembers her name and writes _‘To Marie, with love. Jensen Ackles._ He glances at Jared’s autograph, and decides to add a sketch of a husky to his own.

Once his quick drawing is finished he hands the book back and watches her reaction. Jensen is not sure what the rules of writing autographs are, and he’s nervous he forgot to add something, or that he should have written a different message.

All his fears and worries are for nothing. Marie sees the sketch next to Jensen’s autograph, and smiles so brightly at him that Jensen blushes at the radiance. She breaches the distance between them and gives him a quick hug, mumbling her thanks against Jensen’s chest.

Once she lets go of Jensen again, she waves at Jared and him and turns around to go back to her friends, who’ve been watching the whole exchange from the sidelines. Jensen looks over to Jared, and finds him grinning happily at Jensen.

“Should I be jealous?” Jensen just rolls his eyes and starts to push the cart towards the exit to the parking lot. “Hey, I asked you a legit question!”

Jared follows him and continues his barbs and jokes, but Jensen just raises an eyebrow and otherwise ignores the childish behavior.

At Jared’s truck they stop both their walking and Jared’s teasing. Jared helps Jensen stack the bags into the trunk and then he starts the truck while Jensen pushes the cart back to the entrance of the airport. Turning around he finds Jared’s truck idling at the curb, Jared waiting for him to get in.

“You did great with the fan.” Jared’s comment comes as a surprise and makes Jensen swivel his head around to him. There is a warm and soft look, full of affection, in Jared’s eyes and it makes Jensen relax. He suddenly realizes how tense he had been all this time. First the annoying kid, and then the attention they had been getting at the airport. He’s with Jared and he’s going to stay with him for about a week, before he has to return to San Francisco and start his preparations for the fall semester.

“I looked like an idiot, staring at her when she asked me.” He watches Jared’s profile as he concentrates on the traffic, navigating the expressway into town and towards Jared’s home. Jensen scanshis face, noting slight changes, soft lines where there will be wrinkles in the future, tanned skin from the time outside, and always a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Nonsense. Dude, you made her day with the drawing.” Jared sends him a soft smile, and then he’s back to keeping a close watch on the road. There’s heavy traffic, and they stop every so often, waiting for the cars in front of them to continue driving.

Jensen cranks up the air conditioning and enjoys the cool air that blows at his face. He didn’t get a chance to shower between changing planes and he feels rather sticky. The lower temperature will dry the sweat (which he absolutely hates, it makes him feel dirty), but Jensen is determined that the first thing he does once they arrive at Chez Jared, is to take a long and cleansing shower. Alone, because before he is clean again, he really doesn’t want to take shower that ends up with him being dirty.

“So, how was your time in the jungle? Lots of bugs and critters?” Jared lowers the volume of the car radio that is playing some pop song that is all the rage this summer. It’s not like Jensen would know, having been away for the last four and a half weeks.

“Yeah, we had our fair share of animals crawling around the house, but after the fourth night waking up next to some bug or lizard, you get used to it.” Jensen remembers the first days and nights when he had been surprised and repulsed by the critters and crawlies turning up everywhere, but even Montezuma, their pet tarantula, hadn’t scared him at the end anymore.

“Get used to it?” Jared’s disbelieving question has Jensen just shrug and grin at him.

“They are mostly harmless anyway.” Once again they stop and wait for the lane to start moving again, and Jensen turns to look outside the window. There are so many cars, so much pollution. He has been working for AE for years, but during this expedition it had been the first time that he had faced so much destruction on the name of civilization and industrialization. The pictures in his head from some of the sites they had visited, cast the traffic jam and the city around him in a completely different light.

“What are you thinking about?” The question has Jensen blink and return to the here and now. He shrugs off the memories of what he saw and turns to Jared.

“Just some things we saw in Ecuador.” He doesn’t explain any further. If he starts talking about it in detail he will never stop, and his time with Jared will be tainted by it.

“Was it that bad?”

“It was even worse.” And with that, Jensen turns away and continues staring out of the window, signaling his desire to stop this particular conversation. Jared seems to get it, and once more concentrates on driving through the traffic jam. The traffic doesn’t ease up for about three miles, and then they take the exit to leave the expressway to Jared’s neighborhood.

The closer they get to the villa, Jensen grows more anxious and excited. Never before has he stayed away from Dean for so long, and even though he knows that Jared and Linda took good care of his dog, he wants to see for himself how the husky is doing.

There are two vans parked outside the gate into Jared’s home. Two photographers and two reporters are waiting beside it, and once they recognize the truck nearing them, they run out on the street, eager to get to talk to Jared. Jensen is grateful that the windows are tinted and that they can’t see him sitting inside as well.

Jared slows the car considerably down, but he doesn’t show any signs of planning to stop. Once the reporters realize that they won’t get their interview or statement, they move to the side but follow behind the car almost to the gate. Only the security guard stops them from getting any closer.

Jensen watches in the side mirror how they try to get a look at what is happening, but a second security guard joins the first, and the usher the reporters and the photographers away. Jensen takes a deep breath. He really can do without photos of him on the first day he’s back in the States.

The truck stops and Jared kills the engine. When he doesn’t make a move to get out of the car, Jensen turns to Jared and finds him watching Jensen closely. The scrutiny has him swallow, and he can feel his cheek heat up.

“What?” Jensen feels strangely defensive.

His question just makes Jared smile at him, and then he leans in closer, crushing his lips against Jensen’s. It’s almost as if Jared welcomes him into his home with it. Jensen reaches out and clutches at Jared’s shirt, and returns the kiss.

They deepen the kiss, tongues tangling and pressing even closer together.

When the car door at Jared’s side is pulled open, and a loud and annoyed “Dude!” startles them, Jensen realizes that they are no longer alone. Chad is grimacing at them.

“Afraid you’ll get turned on?” Jensen can’t help but tease Chad who looks affronted at the question.

“Have you forgotten who I am? The Chad does not get turned on by dudes.” With that Chad turns around and stomps back to the house, where Linda is waiting at the entrance, smiling happily at them.

Jared just chuckles at his friend and leans in for another quick peck, before he gets out of the car, and goes to the back, opening the trunk. Jensen needs a second longer to collect himself, and then he gets out of the car himself, being greeted by an excited Dean, who barks and dances around Jensen, making it impossible to take a single step.

“I missed you too, Dean.” He squats down and scratches behind the husky’s ears, receiving doggy kisses, and enjoying every minute of it. He really missed his dog. It had been strange to go away without Dean.

“Come one, you two.” Jared is waiting for them at the house, Jensen’s bags at his feet. “Let’s get inside.”

After a last pat, Jensen and Dean walk over and join the others inside the villa.


	3. Chapter 3

Jared works hard on wooing Jensen the whole week and when Friday with Chad’s movie premiere comes along, the troubles and problems that had been wearing on them before the summer break and Jensen’s expedition to Ecuador, seem almost too far removed to be true. Jensen wonders if he should be more cautious, if he shouldn’t be this accepting of everything Jared does for him, but in the end it feels real nice to have this much attention and affection focused on him.

Friday morning Jared ushers Jensen out of the house after breakfast and drives him into LA to a fancy and very expensive men’s fashion boutique. It says just that right over the elegant entrance ‘ _boutique_ ’. Jensen stares at the golden writing and wonders how he ended up at this particular place at this particular time.

His hesitation has Jared almost shove him inside, chatting excitedly about pants and jackets and other fashion topics.

There are rows and rows of clothes racks and mannequins and everything looks so elegant and expensive that Jensen instantly feels out of place. In the past there had been a couple of occasions when Jensen had to dress up (the last one being Mac’s graduation) but even his most expensive clothes would look shabby next to the threads being on display in this shop.

Almost the minute they enter, a guy sidles up next to them, smiling charmingly, and complimenting Jared on his wardrobe.

All Jensen gets is a short look, but he’s more than okay with that. He can do without the overdone cheerfulness and questions. It’s too much to be honest. He wonders how anyone can get any shopping done with someone constantly butting in.

Jared takes it all in stride. It’s obvious that he’s used to a situation like this, that he thinks it to be normal to be stalked by an assistant while looking for socks. For someone like Jared, who is an international movie star, it probably is.

While the movie star and his trusty admirer look around and comment on different clothes and outfits, Jensen wanders around, desperately looking for something that he would buy on his own. Or at least something that looks kind of like the clothes he would buy.

Most of the goods on display are business clothes and evening clothes, but in the back of the shop he finds racks and shelves with casual clothes. There is a leather jacket of buttery soft suede. Jensen lets his fingers run over the material and finds himself trying it on. The lining is most probably silk, all smooth and soft. When he sees the price of the jacket, Jensen swallows heavily, carefully putting it back on the hanger.

“The jacket looks good on you.” The soft comment takes him by surprise and Jensen turns around, coming face to face with Jared who’s grinning at him. “D’you like it?”

“Uhm,” The question is hard to answer because, yes, Jensen likes the jacket, but Jared will most likely insist on buying it for him if he admits it. It’s just too expensive.

“Go on, put it on.” Before he can protest, Jared has the jacket in his hands and holds it out to Jensen, waiting for him to slip into it.

“This is a very good choice Mr Padalecki.” Jared’s shadow has caught up to them and can’t help but comment on what he’s seeing. “It’s the finest suede from reindeer skin. There is a fur lining for winter that can be zipped in.”

“But I have to say, that it is too small for you Mr Padalecki. Maybe one size up?” The guy starts sorting through the jackets, completely missing the silent conversation going on between Jared and Jensen.

Finally Jensen gives in and once more slips into the jacket. He likes it, and the fur lining that can be added, makes it perfect for his travels to the North. It’s of no use on expeditions, but winter can be rather cold in places like Alaska, Northern Canada, Norway or Finland. He could wear it when being invited to do lectures or participating in conferences.

“You look great.” Jared reaches out and brushes over the collar, stroking Jensen’s neck in the process. The contact has Jensen shiver slightly and he glances at the shop assistant who’s still looking for the jacket in Jared’s size. “Come here.”

It only takes a second of hesitation before Jensen leans in and Jared kisses him. They’re rarely intimate with each other in front of others. Partially because of all the press that keeps hounding Jared and is all too eager to publish it in every magazine, but a large part is the uncertainty that still lingers because of all the things that have happened in the not too distant past.

Jared’s fingers are brushing over his shoulders and come to rest on Jensen’s hips. The unexpected touch has Jensen sigh softly into the kiss, and he breaks away. As much as he enjoys the intimacy of the situation, he really would prefer to continue this somewhere else. Jared’s shopping lackey is rather off-putting with his constant comments and his not so subtle looks.

And speaking of looks, Jensen can feel eyes resting on him that are more than a little inquisitive. A short glimpse through his lashes and he finds the shop assistant and all the other people in the boutique to be honest, staring at them with various degrees of subtlety.

“I think it would be better to keep things pg rated, Mr Padalecki.” His teasing comment is met with another short brush of Jared’s lips against Jensen’s, and then Jared takes a step back.

“Maybe, if we sneak into a changing room we could make out some more.” The way Jared bats his eyes at Jensen, makes him laugh out loud in amusement.

“Sure, no-one will suspect anything.” Their banter is interrupted when the assistant guy shows up with the jacket in Jared’s size. Grinning Jensen winks at Jared. “We could start wearing matching clothes.”

This earns him an eye roll and an amused snort. “Yeah, and next we go to a surgeon to get the same face and start to finish each other’s sentences.”

“Sounds perfect to me.” Jensen chuckles at Jared’s comment, once more perusing the selection of clothes in the store. Even though he doesn’t like shopping at the best of times, and being in such an expensive shop makes the whole thing even more uncomfortable, he reminds himself of the mission they are on, get clothes for the movie premiere tonight. Jensen had asked about a tux, but Jared had assured him that a premiere like this one doesn’t call for something as formal as a tuxedo.

“Am I right to assume that you will be looking for clothes for your friend as well?” The question has Jensen almost break out in laughter as the shop assistant seems to finally catch on that Jared will not be the one getting clothes.

“You’re right to assume that.” Jared just smiles all friendly at the man. The brightness of it coaxing out more than one wistful sigh from the people around them. Jensen can relate to their reaction, he’s no different. Jared’s smiles and laughs are more than enough to brighten his day, as sappy that may sound.

And just like that the guys attention snaps from Jared to Jensen. Suddenly he finds himself ushered around the boutique in search for clothes that ‘bring out his eyes’ or ‘complement his complexion’. Jensen more than once eyes the exit to estimate his chances of an escape but Jared and the assistant from hell have some uncanny ability to read his mind, foiling all his plans and herding him away from the door and deeper into the belly of clothes and accessories.

Hours later and after trying on more clothes than Jensen possesses, they leave carrying bags of pants, jeans, shirts, jackets and pullovers that cost about as much as one of Jared’s cars. At first Jensen had been unwilling to have Jared pay for any of the clothes, but after Jared kept on piling piece after piece on the check out counter, totally excited and happy, Jensen had come to realize two things; one, he just can’t afford all of that (not if he wants to have money for food and gas and other amenities) and two, this is something that Jared loves, buying Jensen clothes. It’s like he has a walking and talking mannequin he can dress up.

They put the bags into the back of the car (the trunk is not good enough according to Jared) and get into the truck. It’s sweltering hot outside the shop and Jensen can’t help but notice how different the heat is here from the heat in the jungle. It’s like here the sun has more sting, but in general the heat had been heavier in Ecuador. All that humidity had done its fair share to make things uncomfortable.

Jared cranks up the A/C and soon a cool breeze wafts through the interior of the car, having the sweat dry on his cooling skin, and making it itchy. On days like this it’s best to stay in a swimming pool, or at least take lots of showers.

“So, are you already freaking out about the big media shinding tonight?” Jensen can see Jared watching him from the corner of his eyes. Surprisingly enough he has noticed that he’s not nervous at all, or at least not much. Maybe he’s starting to take things in stride, and will stop worrying about the press and the public life that Jared and other popular people like him lead.

“Nope, not freaking out so far.” He relaxes and leans into the car seat, enjoying the cool interior of the car, watching the people outside, as they drive by.

“Just give it a couple of hours.” And with that Jared gives the traffic around them his full attention. There isn’t a lot of it, but Jared is a very attentive driver. He enjoys sitting behind the wheel, which is probably the reason why he prefers to drive himself to having a driver take him around.

Jensen turns so he can watch Jared’s face. The skin is darker, more gold tinged than before and there are very soft lines at the corner of his eyes, showing that he laughs a lot. That life has been good to him.

The drive passes rather quickly and soon they are carrying the bags from the car to the house, flanked by excited dogs, and welcomed by the grinning faces of Linda and Jack.

“Not a word.” But Jensen threat just provokes them to start laughing. He’s getting no respect here.

Once the bags are stacked on the couch in the living room, Linda is serving them a late lunch, and Jared and Jensen spend the rest of the afternoon outside with Dean, Harley and Sadie. The dogs have them chasing around, working up some sweat and rolling around in the grass, laughing hard. Jensen loves every minute of it.

He has to realize though, that he’s getting increasingly worried about the evening. The calmness that he was able to boast about earlier is gone, and Jensen can’t help but come up with worst-case scenarios that feature him in various states of undress and/or embarrassing questions from reporters. One scenario has him trip on the carpet and fall on his face, another features him bumping into some famous celebrity.

Jared, who seems to read his mind, picking up on Jensen’s nervousness, does his best to distract him and keep him busy. If there are wandering hands and tongue action involved, it’s a win situation for everyone involved.

They take separate showers though, to ensure that they will get going on time. Jensen puts on the clothes they picked out at the boutique, staring at himself in the mirror once he’s done. The person looking back at him is a stranger with his fancy and stylish clothes. It’s a good look on him, but he’s not used to it.

“You look awesome!” Jared’s comment has Jensen turn around and he comes face to face with Jared who grins happily at him. “No flirting with the big stars tonight.”

The cheeky smile that is flashed at him has Jensen chuckle. “Well, you know me, if I find someone richer and more famous, I’ll leave you in a heart beat.”

The wounded look and the clutching of his heart sends him into a fit of laughter. He’s quickly joined by Jared who wraps his arms around him and pulls him closer. “Careful, or I might have to chain you to me.”

The playful threat has him shiver slightly, the reaction causing Jared’s grin to turn from amused to wolfish. Just what Jensen needs, some more information that Jared can use to keep him from thinking too much.

“The limousine is waiting!” Linda’s shout breaks the mood slightly, at least enough to have them remember what they are actually supposed to do right now.

Jensen takes a last look at his mirror image, making sure that he’s ready to go, and then he heads for the front hall, his nerves fraying more with every step that takes him closer to the waiting car. All his bluster about being more relaxed and not worrying about the press and media coverage of the premiere is proven wrong, when his stomach feels like Jensen’s standing over a crevasse, staring down the dark crack.

Jared is already waiting at the door, his steps had been far longer and surer than Jensen’s, entertaining his audience of two people and three dogs with a story about Chad’s latest escapade. While the humans are laughing about the words, the dogs are all excited about Jared’s gestures.

“Ready to go?” Jensen nods, gets a hug from Linda and a slap on his back from Jack, and then they are in the car and drive off.

During the drive from Jared’s to the theatre Jared keeps up a constant stream of chatter, keeping Jensen busy by trying to keep up with the flood of words, and actually participate in the conversation that seems to be rather one-sided at times. He’s well aware of the reason why Jared overloads him with all that talking, he’s doing his best to distract Jensen from what is to come this evening.

And so it isn’t before they arrive that reality catches up to him. The car stops and Jensen can see the cameras flashing right outside, waiting for the door to open and them to get out. Suddenly all the things he told himself to get the courage and come with Jared to the premiere are gone and he can’t help but worry about what will happen on the red carpet. He turns to look at Jared, knowing that he must look like a dear in headlights.

“Hey, calm down.” Jared climbs over to him and gives him a warm hug. He whispers into Jensen’s ear, “Your adoring masses await you.”

Jensen can’t help but smile at that comment. Even though he knows that it’s Jared that is the one that all the cameras and the chaos is all about, he can’t help but feel a little extra courage at the words. Another squeeze and a quick kiss, and then Jensen turns back to the tinted window that separates him from the craziness outside. He reaches out and opens the door, almost immediately blinded by the bright flashes and deafened by the cacophony of voices that call out to them.

“Jared!”

“Jared!”

“Jared!”

Suddenly a warm hand lands on the small of his back, and Jared is right next to him, steering Jensen through the reporters and photographers until they reach the red carpet. There are reporters and photographers (even camera men) as well, but far less than before and they are actually stationed at a particular place, more like waiting for the actors and stars to drift towards them

“Just smile and strut your stuff.” Jared’s stage whispered remark has Jensen almost elbow him in the side, but Jensen holds himself back, remembering the cameras all around them. That’s all he needs, pictures of him hitting Jared.

“Idiot!” The name he can’t hold in though.

Jared just laughs and continues to usher Jensen around. They make their way through the obstacle course that is the red carpet at a movie premiere, slowing down and stopping every so often, that Jared can give an autograph or smile at a camera.

Everything is kind of weird for Jensen. The crowd of people at the sides that shout the names of their favorite actors, the press that is snatching the stars to their little islands to ask them about their work and their private life, the amount of famous people that are turning up at the event. To say that he’s a little intimidated would be like saying that the Pacific is bigger than a lake.

“Jared!” A waifish blonde woman grabs Jared’s arm and pulls him closer to her, away from Jensen. She almost shoves a microphone in her prey’s face and smiles brilliantly at him. “Hi Jared!”

“Hey!” It amazes Jensen how Jared can just smile and flirt with a complete stranger that practically attacked him.

“We’re at the premiere of the movie with Chad Michael Murray, who is your best friend as we all know, and he’s starring in a romantic drama. What are you expecting from the film?” The waif bats her eyes at her interviewee and flashes her bright teeth at the camera that is filming them.

“Well, since Chad is in it I only expect the best. I know…” Jensen tunes them out and looks around. There are so many people that he has a hard time to orient himself. He knows that they are headed in a certain direction, but with the crowd that is wandering around, it’s almost impossible to make out where they are going to end up.

“Dude!”

Suddenly there is Chad in front of him, grinning like a loon and hugging Jensen so hard, that he fears a couple of ribs might not be able to withstand the pressure. A couple of manly slaps on his back follow and then Jensen is able to breathe again.

“You made it!” It surprises Jensen that his presence causes Chad so much happiness. He had always suspected that the other liked him, but that he had assumed that he only spent so much time with him because of Jared.

“Well, I promised, didn’t I?” He smiles back at Chad and decides that with Jared and Chad on his side, he’s going to be safe. No matter what might happen tonight.

There is movement to his right and suddenly the blonde woman is in front of them, smiling shark-like at Chad. At the same time she prepares to start questioning her newest catch for the evening, Jared sidles up to Jensen and wraps his arm around Jensen’s waist, calming him down and shielding him somewhat from the craziness all around them.

It’s impossible to miss the moment the reporter realizes who Jensen is. From one second to the next she focuses her attention on Jensen, her body language translating to a predator smelling blood. A smile that actually is supposed to be charming sends chills down Jensen’s spine. This has to be what a mouse feels like when it comes face to face with a cat or a snake.

“Am I right to assume that I’m meeting the much talked and even more speculated about Jensen Ackles?” Jensen unconsciously takes a step back as the blonde leans closer. His back is pressed against Jared’s chest who takes his position right there to give him support.

“Yeah, this is Jensen.” There is a steely edge to Jared’s words. It gives Jensen more confidence to realize that he has someone on his side who is willing to upset the press to keep him safe from the media’s blood thirst.

At the same time he feels satisfaction and relief about Jared’s protectiveness, he decides that he doesn’t want Jared’s publicity to suffer. It might be okay for Jensen to have no public presence, but Jared is a movie star who can’t afford to have the press and the media against him. A short glimpse at Chad shows that the other is ready join Jared. This has Jensen take a step forward, closer to the reporter. He takes a deep breath, smiles winningly at the woman and prepares himself for the questioning.

“I have to say that there have been a lot of rumors concerning the relationship between the two of you. Is there any truth to them?” The blonde is not stupid, she notices the stances of the two actors, but Jensen does his best to keep her attention to his person.

“It depends on the rumors you are referring to.” He turns to look at Jared and smiles at him. This gesture has the effect that Jared is invited into the conversation, and as a side effect the other calms somewhat down, the grin that starts spreading a lot warmer than before.

“What about the two of you being together for more than a year now?” The question has Jensen focusing on the reporter once more.

“Almost a year but not before that. There were stories about us before we got together but back then we hadn’t even thought of a relationship, we were just friends back then.” The answer is not juicy enough, he can see her impatience. There are other things she wants to ask about.

Just as the reporter wants to ask for more details they are joined by Hayden and the brown haired woman from Cannes. Seeing the actress in person has Jensen tense. A coldness spreads through his stomach. If there is one thing he could have done without, it’s meeting the woman that caused all the grief before summer. Meeting her in front of the blonde reporter woman doesn’t help the situation any. At all.

“Hi Jared!” Genevieve, Jensen remembers the name with a bitter aftertaste in his mouth and his mind. Smiles brightly at them and gives first Chad, and then Jared a hug. Jensen is taken completely by surprise when she shoulders past the blonde waif and wraps him into a hearty hug. “Hi!”

The embrace leaves him speechless and tense.

“Don’t let those stupid vultures get to you.” She whispers her advice into his ear before letting go and taking a step back. Not a second after that she elegantly turns towards the reporter who is looking a their little group like they’re an especially juicy steak.

“Ms Cortese, what about the rumors concerning yourself and Jared Padalecki?” And with this question the long and torturous way over the red carpet starts. Jensen is really grateful that their little group stays together, and with no little surprise he realizes through out the evening that he likes Genevieve, that the two of them could actually become friends.


	4. Chapter 4

By the time Jensen and Jared returned home from the premiere, Jensen had been more than a little drunk, from alcohol and adrenalin. The excitement of all the strange new things and the amount of world famous celebrities had added to the liquid courage and pumped Jensen up. It had taken quite some time and a lot of Jared’s help to calm him down and get him to sleep.

It comes as no surprise then that Jensen wakes up the next morning, closer to noon though, with a raging head ache and a funny feeling in his stomach. Groaning pitifully, he wraps himself in the bed sheets, growling weakly at Jared’s wandering hands that are trying to unwrap him again.

“Come on Jensen, you have to shower and get some breakfast into you. Lying here will only make it worse.”

But he really doesn’t want to get up right now. And eating food is even lower on the list of things he wants to do. Just the thought of nourishment has his stomach rebel. No way is Jensen dragging himself to the kitchen where all the coffee and fried bacon is.

His protests are met with Jared’s determination, and soon Jensen is shoved into the shower, still clinging to the blanket with one hand, refusing to let go. “Dude, you are a really horrible post-drunk. Let go of the blanket, you’ll get it all wet.

His answer is something along the lines of _’hate you’_ , but his mumbling sounds more like a failed attempt of speech. Jensen cringes slightly when the warm water hits him, and as he tries to wipe the moisture out of his eyes, Jared grabs the blanket and tosses it to the side.

He’s joined by Jared in the shower, strong hands cleaning him, turning him around to make sure that every bit if Jensen gets an equal amount of attention. Only when Jensen’s response shows an increase in rational thinking, is he allowed to leave the shower. Jared wraps him in fluffy towels and steers him back to the bedroom.

“Get dressed and come to the kitchen.” The order is accompanied with a quick slap on his back and Jared saunters out of the room dressed only in sweats.

Only losing sight of the temptation that is one half-dressed Jared Padalecki, Jensen gets himself together and starts throwing clothes on. He doesn’t spend a lot of time on choosing them, just hurries himself to step into a pair of sweats and tugs a shirt over his head while walking out of the room and heading for the kitchen.

The closer he gets to the front of the house, the louder it gets. The smell of coffee and grease makes his stomach turn uncomfortably, but he swallows a couple of times and fights the nausea that starts building up.

Dean comes running around down the corridor and heads straight for Jensen. The husky yips excitedly, telling his human about all the things that he’s already done that day. Jensen can’t help but smile indulgently at the display that is his dog.

“You have a good time?” A bark and a couple of licks on his hand are the answer he receives. “Great!”

In the kitchen Linda and Jared are talking animatedly about something that has both of them grinning like lunatics. Their slightly deranged expressions make Jensen want to quietly slink out of the room again. Who knows what they are planning to do?

“Good morning Jensen.” Linda’s innocent tone of voice is at odds with the glint in her eyes. He can’t really read the meaning of it but somehow he suspects he might not want to know what it is about.

“Morning Linda.” Cautiously Jensen climbs the bar stool at the breakfast counter and reaches for the glass of freshly pressed orange juice. The sour tang tastes heavenly and even though he’ll most likely need not a lot of nourishment today, he hesitantly pokes at the bowl that is set in front of him. The brownish purée doesn’t look too tempting.

“Did you have a nice evening?” The question has Jensen’s head whip up. He stares at Linda suspiciously, noticing Jared’s gleeful giggling from the corner of his eye.

“Yeah, it was okay.” Jared leans closer to him and wraps his arm around Jensen’s shoulders.

“Jensen had a blast last night.” At that Jared and Linda start laughing and leave him totally bewildered about what is going on. Since the two of them seem to refuse any help with the current situation, Jensen decides to ignore them. He drags his spoon through the bowl, leaving a pattern in the porridge.

“Hey, don’t pout.” The statement has him growl half-heartedly, because Jensen does most definitely not pout. Ever. He might brood from time to time, but pouting and sulking are not in his repertoire. Jared should know that already. “It’s just that you were rather drunk when we got home.”

That’s something that Jensen does remember. There are hazy images of him and Jared in a car, most likely the limousine. Unfortunately the majority of what happened from about half past midnight on, seems to haven’t left any impact in his memory. “Did I do something stupid?” He can’t think of any other reason for why his level of insobriety might be of consequence.

His question has Linda and Jared crack up laughing. Slowly but surely their behavior starts to piss him off. It’s fine that they are amused by whatever they did, but they could stop laughing in his face about something he can’t even remember doing.

The change in his mood doesn’t go unnoticed, and Jared clambers from his stool and wraps himself around Jensen. “Hey, we’re not making fun of you. It’s just that you were really out of it and did a couple of things that were rather amusing.”

Ignoring the weak attempt of making amends, Jensen takes another gulp from his juice. It serves Jared right squirm some more.

“You were quite the matchmaker yesterday. You got Zac Efron and Shia LaBeouf to hook up at the party afterwards.” The only response to that is Jensen almost choking to death on his OJ.

Coughing and hacking, he gets himself under control, tears streaming down his cheeks. “WHAT?!” His voice is faint from shock. There are sudden flashes of images that are popping up in his head. They are much too close to what Jared is saying.

“Well, we were all kind of drunk towards the end, but you and Zac were by far the ones with the highest level of blood alcohol. Somehow you decided that Vanessa Anne Hudgens is a _’stupid broad’_ – your words, not mine – and that it would be perfect if Zac hooked up with Shia LaBeouf. Your two partners in crime, who were no better off than you were sobriety-wise, confirmed your assumption by making out.” Jared kisses his ear and squeezes him. ”I have to agree with you that they did look very good together.”

Jensen can’t help but wonder what he had been thinking last night. Apparently the booze had transformed him into some kind of gay matchmaker. Thankfully he lives in San Francisco and not in LA. Somehow he can’t imagine Vanessa Anne Hudgens to be very happy with him at the moment. Not that this bothers him in any way.

“Oh God.” Hanging his head, Jensen takes deep breaths and tries to calm himself down. That is exactly, well not really exactly, the thing he feared might happen, because so far he had never hooked two guys up, with the exemption of the unrefined matchmaking attempt he, Chad and Gabe had made with Tom and Mike. Still, he had made a fool of himself at the premiere, shedding a bad light on Jared. “I’m so sorry.”

“What?” Jared gently turns him away from the counter and towards Jared. “There’s nothing you have to be sorry for. Dude, Lindsay Lohan got so drunk she took off her clothes, all of them. And we all agreed that you were right about Zac and Shia.” A kiss is pressed against his hair. “They really looked great together.”

There’s a clink as something is set down on the counter next to Jensen. “Hey, don’t worry Jensen. Here, how about some fresh made cookies.” Linda pushes the plate closer to him and Jared takes one and waves it temptingly under his nose.

The smell has his stomach roll and he winces. “No, maybe later.”

“But not too late, or there might be none left.” With this Jared shoves the cookie, all of it, into his mouth and smiles blissfully as he chews it. “Awesome.”

Crumbs are spit at him and Jensen can’t help but glare at Jared warningly. Sometimes he can’t help but wonder if Jared was raised by wolves. There’s no way his mum never taught him any manners. “Nice.”

“I have to agree, very charming.” Linda’s reprimand is accompanied by a swat at Jared’s hand, when he tries to take a second cookie. “Chew and swallow the first one, before you take the next.”

Dean, Sadie and Harley could learn something form Jared. They haven’t perfected the puppy dog to the same degree he has. It’s rather fascinating and a little bit unsettling to find a human with more realistic canine facial expressions than dogs. The puppy eyes of doom, as Chad likes to call them, are one of Jared’s most dangerous weapons. Ignoring his smile and the dimples of course.

After a second swat, Jared swallowed the cookie, He holds his ‘injured’ hand close to his chest and rubs his carefully while looking at Linda pitifully.

“You are unbelievable.” Jensen takes Jared’s had and kisses it tenderly. “So, should be good as new.”

From one second to the next, Jensen is hauled from his stool and hoisted over a broad shoulder. “Hey!” His shout is ignored as Jared carries him, like a caveman, to the living room, where Jensen gets dropped onto the couch. Before Jensen can even start to get up, Jared crawls all over him, nibbling on his ear and throat, licking along his stubbly chin.

“Mmm, much better than cookies.” The licking soon transforms into kissing and sucking on Jensen’s throat. The pressure and the heat makes Jensen ache for more, his hands starting to wander, one up to the thick and shaggy hair, to get tangled in, and the other one down to grab at the enticing buttocks.

“Freak.” Is the only thing that Jensen is able to say, his throat dry and his voice getting hoarse with desire. It’s amazing how quickly Jensen turns from grouchy post drunk into turned on beyond belief.

Jared starts to get really comfortable on the couch with Jensen under him. He grabs his knees and wraps Jensen’s legs around his waist, rubbing against him. Just as Jared’s hands are getting close to Jensen’s nipples, there is a pained whine from somewhere close by.

“Dude! Not this early in the morning!” Chad’s protest makes them let go of each other. Jensen pats Jared on the head, just as he would Dean, when the husky has behaved exceptionally well, and shoves the giant off his chest.

He’s aware that his hard on is very obvious, but then again this is Chad and some of the things Jared has told him about the blonde, Jensen is sure that a guy with an erection is down on the bottom of the list of things that shock Chad Michael Murray.

“What’s it with the two of you? Can’t leave you alone without you getting all handsy.” Chad pushes Jared away from Jensen and wedges himself between them. The action has Jensen chuckle, because he knows that Jared will pout and Chad will make fun of him because of that. “Don’t look like some pouty teenager. It’s pathetic, man.”

With a kiss against Chad’s cheek, Jensen gets up from the couch and heads for the kitchen. He really needs some coffee, and originally the plan had been for him to pack his stuff and drive back home in the afternoon.

As he leaves the living room he hears the whines protest. “Dude, gross! No kissing the straight guy! Jared, no!”

Linda is cutting vegetables, her back to Jensen, but when he sits down at the counter, she turns around, a cup of coffee in her hand. Sometimes he’s sure that she can read minds.

“I think you need this.” She sets the steaming cup down and soon after a plate with some toast follows. Jensen’s stomach has settled somewhat and since the smell of fried bacon and eggs is almost non-existent, he feels good enough to actually nibble tentatively on the warm bread.

“I love you. Please marry me.” He sighs happily as he takes the first sip of his coffee. It’s black heaven. Tasting just the right amount of roasted and smooth.

“Hey, no marrying my staff!” Jared climbs on his stool next to Jensen and gets his own cup of coffee. A third one follows for Chad, who’s leaning against the counter, munching a cookie. “If someone is getting married it’s us.”

At this Chad snorts into his coffee cup and Jensen just raises an eyebrow. Linda just pats Jared’s hand and smiles indulgingly at him. “Sure, honey.”

Jensen can’t help himself. He starts laughing at Jared’s incredulous stare and Linda’s smug smile. Sometimes he wonders how Linda started working for Jared. If Jared actually employed his housekeeper or if she just turned up one day and stated that from now on she would rule this household. On days like today, he’s rooting for the latter.

“Aw, don’t do that to him.” Chad cackles gleefully. “He’ll be all weepy and sad for the rest of the day.”

To keep things from escalating, Jensen hugs Jared and purrs into his ear: “Chad and Linda are just jealous.”

Linda just laughs and Chad gags for dramatic effect. “Gross.”

“Why are you here any way?” Jared grabs two cookies, sending his housekeeper a look to make sure she sees him defying her prior orders, and takes his cup of coffee. “First you cock-block me and now you’re making fun of me.” The look Chad gets should most probably be scrutinizing but it makes Jared look all squinty-eyed.

“I just wanted to make sure that Mr. Matchmaker is alive and well.” Back to sipping his coffee, Chad is well on his way of finishing off his second cookie. “When we dragged him home this morning, he was more dead than alive.”

And just like that, the joke’s on Jensen again. It’s not even funny to begin with. For one, Jensen has no recollection what so ever of the events that everyone is referring to, and second, he really hates being the one who everybody laughs about after a party because he did something so stupid and embarrassing that everyone will remember it even years after.

“Yeah well, he was quite grouchy today, but if you can get drunk, you can get up the morning after.” The way they are talking about him like he isn’t even there is starting to grate on Jensen’s nerves.

“You do realize that he’s right here, so you don’t have to talk about him in third person.” Just like he did himself right now. Jensen glares at the two chuckleheads who are gleefully grinning at him. “Shut up, you idiots.”

“Aw, don’t be like that!” Chad strolls over to him and places his arm around Jensen’s shoulders. “You were absolutely amazing last night. At first I though that with all the stars you would be all quiet, but Genevieve and Hayden got you all liquored up.”

Which poses a question he can’t help but ask: “Where were those two when all of it went down?”

“They were so drunk, Genevieve was sleeping with her head on a table and Hayden was making out with this one of the boxers, you know, one of the Klitschko brothers.” Jared’s smile has mellowed from smug to reassuring. “They were no better off than you were.”

“With the big difference that they did not play gay matchmaker.” Jensen takes another piece of toast and takes a bite. “Just tell me, how embarrassing was it?”

“For you?” Chad doesn’t even have to think about the answer. “Not at all. You were all chummy with Zac Efron, his girl already gone home because of some fight they had, and all of a sudden Zac strides through the room, walks right up to Shia Labeouf, who was trying his best to get into the pants of Megan Fox, and laid a kiss on him.”

Jared and Chad laugh as they remember. Jensen thinks he can see a blurry image of what they are talking about. Nothing clear, but enough to confirm what he’s being told.

“At first we all feared that there would be a fight, but then Labeouf just grabbed him and from then on it was impossible to separate them.” Chad shakes his head. “I really don’t want to know what happened this morning.”

“Just imagine Hudgens waking up to an empty bed or better even, to a bed with Zac and Shia in it.” At this the two actors start laughing again, even Linda joining in. Jensen can’t help but hide his face behind his hands, groaning at what he caused to happen.

“This is not even remotely funny.” But his protests are just met with even more laughter. “Really, not funny.”

He wants to explain in detail how bad his situation is, when there is the sound of the dogs barking and the front door is opened. They turn towards the kitchen door, curious about the visitor. It doesn’t take long and a disheveled looking Zac Efron is standing in the room with them, Dean, Sadie and Harley dancing around his feet, competing for his attention. The human though, only has eyes for the four people staring right back at him.

“Dude, I slept with Shia!” Suddenly Jensen breaks out laughing so hard that tears run down his face. Finally he gets what everybody had been so amused about.

Linda just makes another cup of coffee which she hands over to the newest addition of the breakfast/lunch meeting, and turns back to the food she’s cooking.

“Yeah, we know.” Chad just pats Zac’s shoulder and steers him to the stool Jared had vacated. “Does Vanessa know?”

At the fearful look in his eyes, they realize that Vanessa Anne Hudgens knows only too well what her boyfriend had been up to. “I’m sorry, dude.”

Jensen nods his agreement to Jared’s statement, pushing the plate of cookies closer to the young man. The defeated air around him makes everyone want to cheer him up. Even the dogs have decided that they need to keep an eye on the strange human. Dean is pressing close to the stool Zac is sitting on, while Sadie and Harley are sitting watch on each side of him.

The thing is, that there’s not really a lot they can do for him, except let him hide out with them. Taking a sip from his coffee, which is more cold than warm now, Jensen wonders what will happen from here, and if from now on his life will turn into one of these stories that are told on the glossy magazines.

What happened to the real life he had been leading in the past? One look at Jared, who is trying to do what he can for his friend, and Chad, who is talking trash about the jealous rampaging girlfriend, reminds Jensen that even though his life is nothing like what it used to be, he likes where he is right now. In this kitchen. With these people.


	5. Chapter 5

The preparations for the semester are rather hurried, and only Kerr’s help makes sure that Jensen gets everything finished on time for his first lecture. His TA has become irreplaceable. More often than not, Kerr knows about the latest news before Jensen does, preventing any missing or additional work.

There is a significant increase in his workload to begin with. Jensen’s lectures are very popular and his work with AE has helped significantly to ensure his importance in the department. He can look back on a variety of jobs and projects where he got to do research in the area of environmental studies and sciences. It has made him think about signing up for a couple of classes and courses of some of his colleagues. Ever since his expedition into the jungle, he wants to learn more about ecology and environmental management.

Another result of the jungle life is that Jensen has suddenly the desire to see the world. So far his explorations had been limited to cold and snowy regions, and that is no bad thing. Ice and snow has been, and will always be, his number one love, but he can’t help but wonder what he missed out on, never going anywhere but north.

On Facebook, a social network that his friends, and most importantly his sister insisted on being very important these days, he sees pictures of friends, colleagues and family in exotic settings. There are deserts and beaches, mountains and swamps. Places that are sometimes familiar, but that have never seemed so interesting before.

His head filled with images of places he wants to see and facts of places he has been to, Jensen prepares himself for the semester. And once it starts, he’s back, completely immersed in university life with all its bureaucracy and its deadlines.

In the meantime Jared is already busy filming an action movie in the Caribbean. Every night Jensen gets a call from him. Some days the only thing Jared says is “I’m dead” but on other days, he’s all excited talking about where they are going to go after work. On the bad evenings Jensen talks him to sleep, telling him about his own day, about the cats and about Dean, and on the good evenings he tells Jared to have fun. More than once he receives a MMS message on his cell, showing a drunk Jared hanging out at some bar or club, grinning happily and drinking some cocktail.

The first message he received was titled _’Miss You’_ featuring Jared, a bright yellow cocktail and a parrot on his shoulder. The content of the following messages hasn’t improved so far. But they make Jensen laugh in the morning when he finds them waiting on his phone.

A month into the winter semester he gets a call from Chris, announcing that he and Steve are going to do a gig in San Francisco and that they are happy to stay at his place for that time. Jensen laughs into the phone, demanding that they bring some of the good tequila with them when they’re heading up North.

During fall, work around the house and the garden increases as well. The flowers and grass need trimming and weeding. There are a couple of minor works and improvements to be done inside the house as well, and his neighbors have decided that there really should be some kind of neighborhood get together. So, if Jensen isn’t home-improving, gardening or working for university, he’s helping with the preparations for the bar-b-q that is to take place at the end of September. A little late, but everyone’s work schedule forbids an earlier date.

Even though the additional workload of the get together has Jensen stressed and getting barely any sleep, he enjoys the possibility to get to know the people on his street. Most of them are families and couples that have been living here for quite some time, but there are a couple of newcomers like Jensen as well.

What he really likes about this neighborhood is the acceptance he gets. He knows that unfortunately homosexuality is still a topic for a lot of people, but so far not one person he’s met in his community has said or done anything negative because of his sexuality. It helps that they are living in San Francisco. Jensen has no illusions about the welcome he would get, would he move into a Southern community.

During the time when the press and the media had laid siege on his home, he had gotten more than one phone call from concerned neighbors, asking if he was okay. Mary, Bill’s wife, even went so far, as to cook for him and have her kids smuggle care packages to Jensen’s backdoor.

The get together slowly but surely transforms into some kind of community event, and a week before the bar-b-q, the number of people participating and planning on showing up is in the three digit range. It’s unbelievable how much interest there is this party. The site has stayed the same, but due to the increase in people that are to be expected, the whole street will now be transformed into some kind of culinary village. Small groups have started to form, specializing in a certain cuisine.

So far there will be Thai and Chinese food, Mexican and Tex-Mex, Indian, Italian, Greek and Spanish. It has been decided that there will be ice cream and cake that everyone is welcome to donate, and drinks will be brought by everyone as they see fit. When the money for the meat and other ingredients had been collected in the beginning, the total number of hungry mouths to feed had been considerably smaller, so another rounds of collections had started, with people donating some of the ingredients as well.

It’s a very welcome coincidence that Chris and Steve will stay with Jensen in the same time as the bar-b-q takes place, and they readily offered to give a live concert in the evening. Kerr, who is always informed on everything that is going on in Jensen’s life, and who keeps a very tight schedule, has organized the necessary equipment for outdoor projection, and there will be a evening movie for the kids, most likely Highschol Musical 1 to 3.

Tom and Mike said that they don't want to miss out on the event and even Jared has been moping on the phone because he can't be there. Jensen suspects that the disappointment is more because of all the free food he's going to miss out on, but Jared swears up and down it's Jensen's presence that is the selling point.

The day before everything is supposed to go down; people are running around on the street, preparing everything for what is to come. Jensen, just like everybody else on his street has parked his truck somewhere else, the Impala in his driveway. Since the tents and tables and benches are already being set up, there’s no driving allowed on the street anymore.

Steve and Mike arrived last night, the two of them tired but grinning like idiots. They are already on stage, preparing for the gig, but Jensen has some more preparations for tomorrow to finish. Dean is all excited about the humans that are suddenly to be found everywhere. There are small ones and there are taller ones. The husky decided at the beginning of the week that no matter what shape or size they come in, all of the humans are his to rule.

So far, the kids are more than willing and able to keep the dog entertained, but Jensen has had to chase the husky away from the culinary stations more than once today. Nothing much has been set out yet, but it almost seems like he knows that there will be food to be found later on.

“Dean, no!” Once more the husky is sniffing around a fridge that has been incorporated in the Italian booth. Jensen grabs the dogs collar and drags him away, Dean looking at him with bid, innocent puppy eyes, whining pitifully.

“But Mr Jensen, Dean isn’t going to eat anything, we’ll take care of him.” A group of four kids, consisting of a gap toothed girl, a boy with a skinned knee and two other boys who are just as dirty as the first two, look pleadingly at him. It almost seems like they are copying the husky’s look.

“Sorry, but I have to leave and Dean can’t stay outside without my supervision.” This causes long faces and more whining from the husky. “Sorry, but tomorrow he can stay and play with you the whole day.”

This announcement earns him a couple of hugs. With a last wave at the kids, he herds his dog back towards the house. Occasionally he nods at one person or waves at another as he waves his way through the tables and benches. Mary smiles happily at him, but quickly returns to whatever she’s preparing for the next day.

Inside the house Dean trots off to the kitchen, visibly unhappy with the unsuccessful attempt of stealing food outside. As Jensen climbs the stairs to his bed room and the bath, he hears the clinking of the metal food bowl against the ceramic tiles, and then follows the sound of dog food being devoured. Apparently Dean would not have to starve tonight.

He shucks out of the sweaty and dirty t-shirt and jeans he’s wearing and quickly jumps into the shower. The warm water is perfect, washing away the traces of today’s work. Indulging himself, Jensen stays a couple of minutes longer than is strictly necessary, just letting the water sluice down his body. In the end, time presses him to ante up the pace, and he washes his hair and body.

Fresh out of the shower, he wraps himself in a soft white bath towel. It’s one of the towels Jared bought for him, insisting on Jensen needing the fluffiest towels he could find.

His feet leave puddled prints on the floor as he heads back to the bedroom. A last rub over his head and Jensen tosses the towel onto the bed. With a sigh he opens the drawers of the dresser, getting some underwear and socks, next are a fresh pair of jeans and a soft t-shirt. It’s one of his favorites, worn, the print almost gone. Happy memories are attached to this shirt.

It was his first UA shirt he got on campus.

He grabs his jacket and returns downstairs where Dean is already lying on the floor of the hall, eyeing the front door longingly. “You’re impossible sometimes.”

The husky doesn’t even pretend to care about what Jensen said, huffing heavily with a put upon air. When Jensen makes for the door, wallet and keys in hand, the dog jumps up, ready to head out but at a dark look from his human, he decides that today’s entertainment is over. Sighing the husky pads to the living room, deigning Jensen not even worth a last look goodbye.

The truck is parked two side streets down from the house. It’s a little bit of a walk but not really very far. People are busy finalizing today’s preparations and Jensen feels happy knowing that he made a good choice with the neighborhood. The last couple of weeks they all grew together like they were family.

Getting into the car he checks one last time that he has his wallet and all the other stuff he needs, and then he heads out. There are a couple of detours because of the preparations but he’s soon heading into the city, already singing along with Chris and Steve’s latest album.

When Jensen arrives at his destination he realizes he’s a little early. The Docks, for that’s what the location is called, is located, not surprisingly, at the docks. From the outside it looks like a rundown hangar or storage facility, but there are groups of people waiting outside the building, chatting, drinking beer and having a good time. With a nod to the security at the entrance he enters, almost overwhelmed by the amount of people that are here to see Kane.

It’s difficult to get closer to the bar, but after some waiting and even more shoving, Jensen finally arrives at the counter. The top is a little sticky, but the two barkeeps, have no time to wipe it clean, handing out beer and other drinks left and right.

“Can I get you something?” The blonde guy behind the counter smiles invitingly at Jensen, reminding him of one of his students in the Glaciotectonics class. With sudden clarity he comes to realize that he’s getting older. A couple of years ago the blond guy would have been a colleague at university or word with him on some project, but these days, young people only remind him of his students. “Anything to drink?”

The question has Jensen snap out of it. He grins bashfully back and quickly scans the list of beverages. “Uh, one Corona.”

A nod and a wink later Jensen has his chilled bottle of beer, a slice of lime wedged into the bottleneck, and he hands over his money.

“On the house.” Blondie smiles even brighter at Jensen, who stares dumbfound at the bill in his hands.

“Thanks.” His reply is confused and too late. The barkeeper is already handing drinks to a group of girls further down the bar. Jensen knows that he’s not ugly, and that some think that he’s good looking, but the last year, the amount of people flirting with him or telling him that they think he’s attractive is really baffling to him.

Clutching the bottle to his chest, he fights his way back to the stage. There’s a table with a big sheet of paper, a hand-written ‘reserved’ scrawled on it. Smiling amused he sits down, watching the technicians check the cables and the lights, the mikes and the keyboard, making sure everything’s working properly.

“Well hello, who do have we here?” Mike’s teasing question warns Jensen of the impending arrival of his two friends. Tom passes Jensen by to sit down next to him, rolling his eyes at Mike who sits down on Jensen’s other side. “Is this the Jensen Ackles everyone talks about?”

Jensen just boxes Mike against the arm, raising an eyebrow.

“Abuse!” The shout can’t be heard in all the ruckus around them, Mike grinning madly at them. “I have to say, celebrities these days are rather rude.”

“Idiot.” The fond tone of his voice has Tom nod his agreement and Mike wink at them. Jensen loves his friends. They are awesome. All of them.

“How are the preparations coming along?” Tom sets down his beer bottle, and sprawls comfortably on his stool. A glance at Mike has Jensen notice the heated look in his other friend’s eyes as he watches his boyfriend. “Did you get to finish everything that needed to be done today?”

“Tomorrow only the cooking stations need to be finalized, that means the food has to be brought, and the beverages are still in storage to chill them. Everything else is done.” Jensen takes a swig from his bottle, the sour and bitter flavor of the beer and the lime tastes like ambrosia after a long day of work. “Kerr and his crew prepared the movies and the stage was set up yesterday, Chris and Steve supervised the final touches today.”

“I wish we’d have something like that on our street as well. I think it’s great that all of you get along so well.” And Jensen can only agree with that. He loves living in his home.

“Yeah, it’s pretty awesome.” Any further talk is interrupted when a guitar solo has people heading for their tables, Silence starts to settle and everyone’s watching the stage with anticipation. It doesn’t take long either before Chris, Steve and their band step out, everyone cheering and clapping.

“Good evenin’!” Chris Southern drawl is welcomed with loud cheers. “Tonight I have the great honor and even greater pleasure to introduce to you, Kane. Enjoy the show!”

Another bout of clapping and shouting and the concert starts. The first song is from the new album, but everyone joins in, singing along with the band. With a crowd like this concerts are ten times as great. Jensen grins happily at Chris who smiles at them from the stage.

“Their new album is great.” Tom’s shouted comment is almost drowned in the noise of the singing and the music. Jensen nods his answer, knowing that it will be easier understood than any vocal reply.

The next couple of songs are both new and old, and when the band starts their famous love song, the female half of the crowd screams excitedly. Jensen and all the other guys collectively roll their eyes at the screaming, but they sing along just the same.

During the break Tom gets them more beer. He returns with three bottles and a napkin. One bottle is for each of them, but the napkin he puts in front of Jensen. “The blond at the bar asked me to pass this on to you.”

There’s a phone number and a name written on the napkin. Jensen stares from the paper to Tom, to the bar and back down. “Uh.”

“Seems like you made quite an impression on someone.” Mike grins at Jensen, but turns around to stare at the bar. He waves and suddenly turns to Jensen placing a kiss against his friend’s lips.

“Dude!” Jensen stares at Mike in horror and shock.

Tom just laughs and leans down to him, whispering into his ear, “Just to make sure that Blondie gets the message.”

When the concert continues, Jensen is scowling at Mike, warning him to keep his hands and lips where they belong, on Tom. This has all three of them laugh amusedly. Grinning madly, Jensen texts ‘ _Dude, Mike kissed me!!!!!!_ ’ and sends it off to the Caribbean.

Half a minute later he receives the reply: “Gross!”


	6. Chapter 6

The bar-b-q is a big success. More than the already expected neighbors and community members showed up. There is barely enough food to last them through the day and the night. The entertainment which in the end consists of movie for the kids, a live performance of Kane (the rest of the band decided to join in) and various smaller events like face painting for the kids, musical interludes at the culinary stations, including belly dancing, an Italian two man band and an impromptu Flamenco performance.

Mike and Tom help Jensen with his allotted tasks which mainly consist of helping with the set up of the movie equipment, carrying the instruments and the equipment of the band from the truck, which is parked entirely too far away, to the stage and help with the restocking of the culinary stations.

In the evening when the kids are settled in front of the white linen screen and everyone else is gathered in front of the stage where Steve and Chris are starting their show, Jensen dashes into Mary’s station, where she’s already busy washing pots and pans, and throwing away paper plates and plastic cutlery. Mike and Tom are safely set up next to the stage so he won’t be missed.

“Hi Jensen!” Mary is one of the kindest and friendliest people Jensen’s ever met, and he’s met a lot of nice and friendly people. She’s setting aside a large pan, taking the next one and submerging it into the foamy water. “Today was crazy.”

“There were so many people. I’ve no idea where they all came from.” He takes one of the clean dishes and grabs a semi-dry dishtowel. Wiping the pot down, he leans against the counter behind him and looks out at the people in front of the stage. “All we wanted to do was organize a neighborhood bar-b-q. It’s unbelievable how this turned out.”

“Ruth set up a big bowl and asked people to donate since they aren’t paying anything for the food. It’s quite a sum and they said that since you’re on campus all the time, you should be able to find a good charity or project we can donate the money to.” Another pan and a large spoon are added to the pile of clean but wet dishes.

Jensen thinks about the question. There are a number of charities that come to his mind but he wants it to be something that his neighbors can relate to as well. Suddenly he remembers a discussion he had with Loretta only this week. Her younger sister is a social worker working with handicapped kids at a local hospital. She had told Jensen that at the moment they are petitioning for more funds to renovate the children’s hospital wing.

“I think I know something that would be perfect for it.” Jensen tells Mary about the hospital and the kids and the second he mentions ill handicapped children and the need of more funding her eyes shine brightly and he knows that the money will definitely go to this cause.

“Ruth will love it.” And with this they silently wash and dry, listening to the music.

The concert lasts for almost three hours, Chris and Steve lure Jensen on stage after the first break and he stays as a back up for the rest of the gig. The encore is a song with Jensen as the lead. He gets badgered into this not only by Chris and Steve, but Tom, Mike, Mary, Bill, Ruth and a number of his other neighbors nag as well, and so he just shakes his head and grabs the mike. What else can he do?

It’s really late when the party is declared to be officially over. Most of the kids are already at home and sleeping, and people are drifting off towards their cars, tired and happy. It is decided that the equipment will be stored in Bill’s garage until the next day, and Tom and Mike follow the rest of Kane to the cars.

After the long day everyone just drops face down into their bed, Jensen doesn’t even take off his clothes. He barely manages to toe off his shoes before falling asleep. He stays dead to the world until eleven the next day. The last time he got up this late was sometime at university after a particularly long party.

When he pads out of the bedroom, clothes rumpled, hair tousled, creases of the pillow still decorating his face, he can hear voices outside talking and laughing. Slowly Jensen heads downstairs, yawning all the way. With one hand he rubs the crusty residue from his eyes.

The noise is from his back porch. He identifies Steve and Mary, there’s the occasional bark and yip from Dean intermingled with the human chatting. Carding his fingers through his hair to get it into a somewhat resemblance of order and smoothing down his clothes, he opens the back door and looks outside.

He finds Steve sitting on the stairs talking with Mary who holds a basket with cake, pie and muffins. “Morning.”

His greeting has Steve turn around, smiling at him, and Mary giggles amused. “Looks like someone had a long night.”

At that Steve laughs winking conspiratorially at her. “I think Jensen is still asleep.”

“Ha-ha, very funny.” He sits down next to Steve, blinking against the sun light. “I’m sorry, I missed most of the morning and I promised to help with cleaning duty.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for. You already helped yesterday and most of the stuff will be picked up in the afternoon. The cooling units and hot plates stay until John gets the truck for the transportation. It was really nice of his sister-in-law to lend us everything. She said that her catering company had nothing booked for that time.” Mary hands her basket over and the most heavenly smell wafts from it. It’s all sugar and cinnamon and chocolate and spices. “They are left-overs from last night. I thought that since you have visitors you might like something for breakfast.”

“Mary, I love you.” Jensen moans happily as he takes a bite of an apple cinnamon muffin. He chews slowly savoring the taste. “Will you marry me?”

His question has all three of them break out into laughter. Dean, who thinks that the humans are making all that noise just to attract him, runs over from the bushes in the back of the garden and barks happily. The husky tries his best to get a treat from the basket once he reaches Jensen.

“No way, you greedy mutt.” Jensen holds the basket up and out of Dean’s reach. “Look at you, the last couple of days you ate more than an elephant. You’ll get fat.”

At this Mary pats the husky’s head and with a final wave, leaves them to fight over the food she delivered. Steve isn’t of any help either. He just snags a scone and gets up, walking back into the house with the words: “I’ll make coffee.”

It’s about two in the afternoon when Chris finally rises from the dead and by that time the rest of the band has arrived as well. They carry everything from Bill’s garage to the truck and after a take out dinner of pizza and beer, Kane heads out.

Once he’s on his own Jensen cleans up his kitchen and then he changes his clothes, taking Dean for a run. During the afternoon the whole street had been cleared of any signs that the prior night a huge bar-b-q had taken place. He waves at neighbors who bring their cars back into the street, parking them once more in front of their houses.

Later that night he sets an alarm for the next day to ensure he’s up on time for Jared’s interview on the morning TV. Jared had told him that the only reason why he did that interview was that his little niece had complained that she never gets to watch any interviews with his uncle since they are always in the evening or more often than not, at night.

Throughout the morning TV show Jared sends him messages, mocking the interviewer and making fun of the questions. Jensen wonders what the director thinks about his actor texting non-stop during work.

In the afternoon, Jensen is sitting on the porch reading a book for one of his classes. There’s a knock on his door and when he opens it he finds no-one else but Chad Michael Murray and Zac Efron standing on his front porch. Both of them have black sun glasses crammed onto their noses, caps tucked low into their face.

Jensen can’t help himself, he sees the ‘icognito’ stars and starts laughing. The get up just looks so stupid. Wiping tears from his eyes he just turns and walks back into the house, leaving the door open for his guests to enter.

His laughter attracts Dean’s attention who peers around the corner from the kitchen into the hall. At first the husky growls softly but upon recognizing Chad he barks happily running at their guest, almost bowling the blond over. Doggy kisses and more barking accompany the two Hollywood stars into the living room.

While Zac and Chad pet Dean, having the dog space out about the canine heaven he finds himself in, Jensen gets three beers and joins his visitors. Without a word he hands a bottle to each of them. Zac nods his thanks, leaning back and taking off his sun glasses. There are dark smudges under his eyes, the rings looking almost like bruises. Apparently the actor had not found too much sleep recently.

“Thanks dude.” Chad shoves his shades onto his head, leaning back into the couch. Sprawling comfortably he looks around the room.

“So,” Jensen studies his surprise guests. There is some kind of tension but he doesn’t know what it is all about. “how’s it going in the Land of Dreams?”

His question has Zac wince and Chad snort. Apparently this is not a good topic to talk about. “Things are interesting.”

The way Chad says it has Jensen raise his eyebrows, prompting them to extrapolate on the comment. There’s no way that the two of them came all the way from LA to San Francisco for nothing. Not on a whim. Even if they have no ulterior motive they most certainly hope to accomplish something by their travel up north.

“Interesting?” Jensen watches Chad drink and Zac hunch into himself. “Why are you here, not that I’m not happy to have you visit.”

“Well, let’s just say that my man Zac here has a little problem with his girl, or rather the fact that he no longer has a girl, and since things are rather tense down South right now, I suggested paying you a visit.” Chad sets his bottle down on the coffee table and turns toward Jensen. “Nice house, I like it.”

“Thanks.” He can’t help but feel a little bit guilty of all the problems Zac seems to be having right now. Had he not been so drunk at the premiere party, he would never have come up with the idea of pairing Zac up with Shia Labeouf. “What about the other culprit?”

“He’s in Europe.” The words are weak and there is more than just of trace of tiredness in the tone of voice. The answer is the first thing Zac has said since showing up on Jensen’s doorstep.

“He’s waiting out the wrath of Vanessa Anne Hudgens as far away as possible.” Chad ignores the minute tremor that runs through his friend’s body and just continues on. “If you ask me he’s a total prick to run and let my man here deal with everything on his own. It’s not like Zac was the only one snogging. There are always two people involved and we all remember Shia being all hands at the party.”

Jensen thinks hard about anything he can say that might help or at least not make things worse but nothing comes to mind. Who would have thought that a drunk observation and dare would turn out like this. A question suddenly springs to his mind. “Does the press know about the circumstances of Zac and Vanessa breaking up?”

“No.” Zac looks up from his beer bottle and looks at Jensen. There are dark rings under his eyes. “They think it’s a PR gag and somehow for some elusive reason Vanessa hasn’t said anything about the why and how either.”

“Well, that’s good, right?” He waits for Chad or Zac to agree with him.

“Yeah, but don’t count on them never finding out, because there were a lot of people at the party and odds are that one of them is going to talk. Maybe not to the press but to some third party and then this someone tells someone else and so on and so on. In the end the media will find out and that will suck.” Dean’s arrival has Chad put his beer away, leaning forward to scratch the husky behind his ears, causing happy doggy whines. “After Jared going gay, Zac and Shia making out with each other is going to be exactly what they are looking for.”

Jensen fights back a snort as a though pops up in his head. “Who are we gonna pair you up with, hm?”

The question has Chad scowl and Zac chuckle. “Dude, this body is sole property of all the ladies out there. No guy’s gonna get a shot at it.”

The outraged reaction has the other two howling with laughter, causing Chad to scowl even more.

“What a pity.” Zac takes a swig from his bottle and then turns to Chad, winking at him playfully. “I might have wanted to give you a try.”

The spluttering this causes has Jensen almost fall from the couch as he rolls up laughing. His sides are hurting and he holds them to keep from the stinging to get worse. His letting go of the upholstery of the couch results in a drop from the seat onto the floor.

Dean who doesn’t get why the humans are behaving so strangely, trots over to Jensen and sniffs at his face. Once that the security measure proved his owner to be of no danger, the husky starts licking his face.

Reaching up and holding onto the dog, he buries his face in Dean’s fur. The gesture has the dog yip happily. There’s nothing Dean loves more than attention, and Jensen clinging to him, petting him, is by far the best kind of attention there is.

For the rest of the afternoon and in the evening their talk doesn’t improve at all. Whenever Chad says something douchy about Shia and Zac, Zac retaliates by flirting with Chad, which shuts the blond up much faster than anything else. Jensen can’t help but tease his friend about his reaction.

Additionally to the talking and joking, beer and Tequila help with the situation they are trying to discuss. Sometime after the fourth bottle of beer, Jensen gives Jared a call, telling him decidedly that Shia Labeouf is a douche bag. His declaration has Jared laugh and tell Jensen to send Chad his greetings. Shortly after that he has to hang up because he’s on set.

By the time that their tequila bottle is empty as well, Zac is asleep in the chair, one bottle of beer in his hand.

Jensen tells his friend about the big party they had on his street and describes in great detail the schemes Jared had made up to escape from set and show up for the bar-b-q.

“He said that he has the MacGyver episode on his computer. The one where they build the plane.” Jensen takes a swig from his beer bottle. “Said he was already working on it.”

With bleary eyes Chad stares at Jensen. It almost seems like he’s solving the Ultimate Question and Jensen feels the urge to blurt out _’42’_ , half sure that it’s the answer to whatever his friend seems to be looking for. With every second that passes, Chad’s eyes become more cross-eyed, until Jensen is sure that he must see everything double.

“You know it’s like birds.” Jensen stares at him, not sure how to respond to this. He isn’t really sure he should be insulted or flattered. Zac curls up in his armchair, mumbling unintelligently and clinging to his bottle of booze.

“What?” He thinks that about expresses what he thinks about the strange comment.

“Yea, you know how birds, they can fly real high and they shit on your head. Sometimes those fuckers fly right into your eye, almost. Scares me to death. But then I watch those stupid documentaries on TV where you can see them fly and you see that they’re actually beautiful. That’s how Jared feels about you.” Chad looks at Jensen all uncomfortable, embarrassed about having to discuss emotional stuff with him.

“Uh, okay.” He thinks that bird shit in the same breath as Jared’s feelings is somewhat disturbing, but he gets what Chad is struggling to say. He can’t help feeling happy about the bizarre love declaration. “I like him too.”

This was apparently the right thing to say because Chad nods, grinning happily. With another smile at Jensen, he turns his head to the side, resting it on the couch and from one second to the next he’s asleep, snoring softly. If anyone saw him like that they would never believe the bitchiness that can be Chad Michael Murray.

With a last look at the two sleeping figures Jensen carefully gets up from the couch. He’s a little uncoordinated from all the alcohol he’s drunk but he manages to make it to the kitchen and back without disturbing any of them. Jensen slips out of the house onto his back porch and climbs onto the garden bench, curling up. He dials Jared’s number and presses the phone to his ear.

“Hello?” The question is slurred with sleep, apparently a quiet evening and night. “Jensen?”

“Hey,” he answers, just happy with the world. It sounds sappy but Jensen suddenly feels like everything is exactly how it’s supposed to be. All the troubles and excitement of the past seem just like the road to the place where he’s right now.

“Did Chad treat you alright?” Jared already sounds more alert. “Is he telling lies about me?”

“Nope. He told me about the bird and shit and that you think I’m beautiful.” Maybe the answer to Jared’s question is bit confusing for everyone who hasn’t participated in the conversation but to Jensen it makes perfect sense. He closes his eyes, listening to Jared on the other end of the line, thinking about the last time they saw each other in person.

“Bird shit led to the two of you talking about my thoughts about you?” There’s a chuckle and rustling of sheets. “How much did the three of you drink?”

“M good.”

Laughter and then: “Yea, I can tell. So, d’you think I’m beautiful too?”

“I like you.” His words cause a silence on the phone, but Jensen really wants to say it. They have been talking about their feelings from time to time but mostly when they were fighting or something had happened that had hurt either of them. It’s only right to say it at a time when they are not having difficulties.

“Me too. You know, I think that I like you the best.” Jensen feels his heart speed up as he hears Jared’s declaration. “No, I’m pretty sure I don’t just know. I do like you the best Jensen.”

“Like you best too.” Even in his inebriated state Jensen realizes that they are getting pretty close to sliding into a chick flick moment. He takes a deep breath and suddenly a yawn splits his face. His eyes are kind of tired and he realizes that his thoughts are slowing down as well.

“Are you falling asleep on me?” There’s laughter in Jared’s voice.

“Sorry.” Jensen’s reply is more mumbled than anything else. It’s real hard, now that he’s lying down and his eyes are closed, to stay awake and to keep up with the conversation.

“Hey, don’t you worry. How about I tell you about my crazy day?” And then Jared starts talking. He tells Jensen about the mix up with the script and the broken coffee machine and the resulting craziness on set. There’s a story about one of the extras and her sprained ankle. Something about a monkey, and then Jensen doesn’t hear anything anymore because he’s asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Jared returns from the Caribbean one week after Chad’s surprise visit and very much like his best friend, he just shows up one evening, knocking on the door.

Jensen is sitting in the living room, talking to his mum on the phone. His parents liked last Thanksgiving so much, they have decided that they want a repeat of the family gathering and Jensen is only too happy to have everyone at his place again. There’s enough room, and he’s closer to Jared, which means that he might get to spend some time with him during the holidays.

“But this time your dad and I will fly to California. No more driving for me.” Jensen hears his dad’s voice in the back commenting on the phone conversation they are having. Jensen grins at the exasperated tone of voice. “No, no. I know what I have to expect if I agree to drive all the way up there with you. There will be a boatload of detours and bad food in some rundown diner.”

The mere thought of his mum in some kind of shady establishment in the middle of nowhere makes Jensen fight the laughter that starts bubbling up. “Mum, it’s no problem if you want to fly. Tom and Mike will help me with the chauffeuring. Between the three of us we’ll get everyone to my house safe and sound.”

Just as he wants to add some more mollifying words, a knock at the front door has him look up and Dean scramble for the door. The excited barking has his heart speed up with nervousness. Jared is still in the Caribbean, at least he was last evening. There hadn’t been any talk about him coming back any time soon.

While his mum continues to argue with his dad while Jensen is still on the phone, he reaches the door and maneuvers around the husky who is currently dancing around in front of the door. “Dean, let me get the door.”

Another knock and finally he manages to get past Dean. Ignoring the squabbling thousands of miles away, he unlocks the door and opens it. Even though he had hoped hat Jared would be on the other side, the sight of the deeply tanned face, split with a bright smile, dimples and sparkling eyes, stuns Jensen momentarily.

The paralysis is abruptly ended when three dogs start running around, almost knocking him into the side table, upending the bowl with the keys and change. Harley and Sadie, together with Dean, are so excited they don’t know what to do first. They turn from Jensen to Jared and back, yipping and barking all the time.

“Happy to see me?” Jared’s question is accompanied with a cocky grin and suddenly Jensen pushes away from the table he’s been leaning against, grabbing Jared’s shirt and pulling him closer. He mashes his lips against the still grinning lips and kisses Jared hard. “I guess you missed me.”

Jensen only breaks the kiss to end his phone call with his parents and then he throws the front door closed and pushes Jared against it. The mobile drops to the floor, clattering against the wooden boards, but he doesn’t care. The sound completely escapes his notice.

His hands slowly let go of the shirt to skim up to Jared’s shoulders, and then framing his face. Jared tastes of soda and sweat and chewing gum. There’s slight stubble on his cheeks and jaw and Jensen rubs his own cheeks against it. He missed touching Jared. They had been talking on the phone and texting each other every day, but the closeness and the physical presence of Jared had been sorely lacking.

“You didn’t tell me.” Anything else he might have added is swallowed by Jared’s next kiss. If Jensen is doing his best to get his hands on Jared, Jared beats him by actually lifting him up and carrying past the dogs and up the stairs. Even in the happy bliss he finds himself in right now, Jensen doesn’t fail to be impressed with the display of strength.

True Jared has always taken care of his body and working out is an important part of doing that, but it takes a lot of strength to life someone of Jensen’s size and weight and then carry them upstairs .

“Impressive.” His compliment comes with extra long, teasing nips and licks along Jared’s jaw, all the way back to his neck. He chuckles into his ear and wraps his legs around Jared’s waist. Better safe than sorry. It would put a serious dampener on the mood if all of a sudden Jared’s strength is not enough and Jensen is dropped down.

The new position has the advantage of better positioning and Jensen uses this to kiss and bite Jared’s neck while carding his hands through the thick brown mop of hair. It’s soft and there are still remnants of the heat of sunshine in them.

Thus occupied with a delectable stretch of skin, he never notices their arrival in the bedroom. It comes of somewhat a surprise when he’s suddenly deposited on top of the sheets. Forcing himself to let go of Jared, he watches him take off his shoes and socks the shirt follows before he crawls onto the bed and over Jensen.

“I have the next four days off, and the rest of the week is only phone interviews and reading scripts. I am going to keep you in here with me for as long as I can manage to drag you away from work and friends.” Jared’s voice is husky and his pupil’s have blown. He looks almost feral with his hair in disarray and the flush on his bare chest.

His only reply to this declaration is to reach up and pull Jared down. Delivering a hard kiss, he bites down lightly on his lower lip. Jensen feels so relaxed and happy right now he can’t help smiling wide up at Jared.

His grin is met by Jared’s own and it’s moments like this that he likes best. It’s the intimacy of sharing a smile, knowing that the other feels the same you do. Never before has it been like this with anyone else in Jensen’s life. What he shares with Jared is unique and special. As mushy that may sound, it’s the only way to describe them.

All his thoughts are cut short when Jared unzips Jensen’s jeans and one hand worms inside, shoving fabric aside in its determined quest of getting him undressed. First the pants and the boxer briefs go. Next to follow are the socks and the shirt. In the end he lays spread out on top of the bed smiling up at Jared.

“I really missed you.” The words are soft and make him feel warm inside. Jensen reaches up and his fingers trace over Jared’s face caressing him and at the same time coaxing him closer. When it takes longer than Jensen deems necessary he just sits up and smashes his lips against Jared’s.

The kissing becomes more frantic with every minute until Jensen reaches down and tugs at the buttons of Jared’s jeans. He growls with impatience as he has to undo the button fly. The slow down is definitely not welcome right now.

Finally he can push down the pants, reaching skin and clawing at it. When Jared settles down on top of him his hard on is aligned next to Jensen’s. It doesn’t take long for them to start rubbing against each other while kissing. Jensen’s hands come to rest on Jared’s ass pressing him down, harder against him.

“Definitely missed this.” The comment is more of a groan than a real statement. Jensen is busy licking and kissing Jared’s neck and throat. He loves the smell and the taste. It’s almost intoxicating. Combined with the roughness of Jared’s voice as it grows heavy with arousal it drives him crazy. “Definitely missed you and this.”

Jensen can’t help but roll his eyes at that. “Poor you.”

His cheek is punished with a swat on his ass and Jensen grins cheekily at Jared. He likes it when he gets under Jared’s skin. It’s like a rush to see the other get all worked up about Jensen, to see proof of his feelings for Jensen.

“Come here.” Tugging Jensen in place, Jared stops rubbing and rolls over to reach for the night stand. Licking his lips, Jensen watches him get the lube and a condom out of the drawer. It’s the first time in Jensen’s life that condoms and lube are fixtures in his bedroom. He likes the thought about why that has changed.

“It seems like you need some reminding of what you missed these weeks.” The words are accompanied with deep kiss and then Jensen is cajoled to roll onto his front.

At first he’s surprised when Jared starts kissing and licking his way down his spine, he had expected lubed fingers preparing him, but the feeling of strong hands rubbing down his back, the occasional nips, have him panting in no time. He spreads his legs wider, one leg inching higher to get better purchase and to be able to rub his hard cock against the sheets.

It feels like an eternity until Jared reaches the end of his spine and then the tongue dips even lower. His cheeks are held apart by Jared’s hands and the hot tongue presses against his hole. The unexpected feeling has Jensen pucker up, but soon the kneading and licking has him relaxed enough for Jared to push his tongue into him.

Jensen can’t keep from whimpering as Jared spreads his cheeks further apart to be able to rim him even deeper. He wants to rub harder against the bed under him, but since his movements seem to hinder Jared in what he’s doing, the other keeps him pinned to the bed. The only thing Jensen can do is claw against the sheets and moan into the pillow.

The feeling of Jared’s tongue in his ass is almost too much. Jensen goes almost crazy with pleasure, trying hard to toss and turn, his cock painfully hard, his nipples sensitive and rubbing against the cotton he’s lying on.

Just when Jensen thinks he can’t endure anymore of this, the rimming stops. Through the rushing of his blood and the beating of his heart, Jensen can hear the sound of the bottle of lube being opened and then two slicked fingers are at his entrance, pressing in and starting the preparation in earnest.

“Turn around, Jensen.” He barely takes notice of the words, but Jared underlines his request by rolling Jensen on his back, the fingers are dislodged, but that is of no importance to either of them since Jensen reaches up, pulling Jared down. He almost devours Jared with a kiss that is all kinds of desperate.

Jared tastes of him. It is a strange taste, one that Jensen can’t really get used to; no matter how many times Jared does this to him. He’s not disgusted by it, but it’s so alien to him that he’s surprised time and time again.

While Jensen does his best to lick his taste out of Jared’s mouth, the other unpacks the condom and rolls it onto his cock. Jared breaks to kiss to spread lube onto his latex covered erection and then he positions himself for the penetration.

“I really missed you.” At this, Jensen reaches up and holds on to Jared’s arms.

It’s surprising how he doesn’t even tense for a second as Jared pushes inside. The burn of the stretch sending heat into his body and making him shiver. It’s a good kind of burn, more like an amazing and perfect kind of burn. It’s like every nerve in Jensen’s body is attuned to whatever Jared is doing. His body and his mind are welcoming him back.

A short grunt signals that Jared is getting ready to speed things up a little. With one arm he stems himself up and with the other he’s cradling Jensen’s face. There is a look of concentration on Jared’s face, but once he starts moving the tense lines and the frown melt away, leaving Jared slack-jawed and bright eyed.

Jensen feels the fullness of the penetration, but he revels in the little sharp edge to the pleasure that fills him. He’s getting a cramp in his left thigh but right now he couldn’t care less. Hitching the leg even higher around Jared’s waist, the change in position has hot sparks shoot through his body.

“So good, Jensen.” Jared’s pupils are so blown his eyes look like black pools. With his mouth open, he pants and grunts his pleasure. “Come on.”

A particularly sharp thrust makes Jensen shout out in surprise and ecstasy, his eyes drifting closed. Jared had located his prostate and with the apparent success of the new angle, he kept on rubbing over the sensitive spot causing fireworks behind Jensen’s closed eyelids.

“Look at me.” But the heat and tension building up inside of him makes it almost impossible to open the eyes again. The hand on his face strokes over Jensen’s cheek and Jared leans down, panting open-mouthed kisses against his lips. “Oh god.”

There is a definite howl to Jared’s tone of voice by now. Jensen forces himself to blink his eyes open, but sweat runs from his brow into them, burning uncomfortably in the eyes. Jared’s face is all flushed, rivulets of sweat running down, drops collecting on his chin and dropping on Jensen’s chest. The lips that before had been bruised from the kissing are deep red now and the eyes have a shine to them that adds to the blackness of the blown pupils.

The sound of their panting is getting harsher and Jensen can hear himself moan and beg as if he’s listening in from outside his body. His whole being is one giant bundle of nerves that is burning with pleasure, the heat rising towards a peak that is almost in reach,

“Jensen.” Jared’s voice is definitely breathless with exertion and desire. “That feels so fucking good.”

Steadily the pace of the thrusts is getting more frantic. Jensen lets go of Jared’s arms and his hands trace the muscles of Jared’s chest down his stomach and one hand comes to rest at his hip, holding on to him, and his other hand reaches for his cock, slicking the precome over it, setting a pace that matches Jared’s thrusts.

All too soon, Jensen feels the tensing of his muscles, his stomach and thighs tightening, his toes curling at the orgasm that he feels coming on. A couple more thrusts and Jensen arcs his back, his head thrown back, and groans. His body shakes and through the pleasure haze of his own orgasm, he can feel Jared’s.

“Oh god, Jensen.” Jared’s voice breaks and he pounds desperately into Jensen as he finds completion. The sight of the tension and concentration melting away into the relaxed post-orgasmic bliss is almost like coming for a second time.

Jensen can feel Jared pulling out and pulling the used condom off. Reluctantly he lets go of Jared, watching through half-lidded eyes as Jared gets up and heads for the bathroom. There is the sound of the toilet flushing, the tap being switched on and off and then he returns with a wet towel in his hand.

With a smirk he climbs on top of Jensen and starts wiping him down and cleaning away any traces of their intercourse.

“You know, next time you’ll have to come with me.” He leans down and presses a happy kiss against Jensen’s smiling mouth.

“I will?”

“Yeah, there’s no way I’m gonna spend so much time away from you again.” The statement is accompanied by a lot of eye-batting and coy looks.

“Sappy idiot.” But even if it’s sappy and girly, to hear those words makes warmth and happiness spread through Jensen’s chest. He reaches up and cradles his face, “But you are my sappy idiot.”

Jared just smiles as if he had won the lottery. All bright and all teeth, dimples carver into his cheeks.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning when Jensen wakes up, he can hear Jared’s voice downstairs talking to the dogs. From the tone of voice it’s a rather serious talk and he can’t help but smile at the thought what the three had been up to that warranted a dressing down by Jared.

Stretching, he yawns wide and then slowly climbs out of bed. It’s much too warm and cozy in bed to get up and face a new day. He can see the morning sun all silvery and pale outside and there are birds sitting right outside the window on the roof rail.

Jensen scratches his belly as he sorts through the underwear drawer, picking a fresh pair of boxer shorts, and then grabs the jeans he had been wearing yesterday. They are wrinkled but clean enough to be put on again.

T-shirt in hand, he pads downstairs barefoot. The closer he gets the better he can understand what Jared is saying to the dogs. He shrugs into the t-shirt and sneaks closer to the kitchen, which seems to be ground zero.

“What did I say when we drove here?” Jared’s voice is quiet but strict, putting Harley and Sadie in their place without raising his voice even the tiniest bit. “I told you, no digging up flowers, no shameless begging, no rolling around in the dirt and then jumping on the couch, and definitely no chewing shoes or briefcases.”

Jensen snorts at the last condition, knowing that most likely Dean had been the perpetrator of the group. Quietly, he takes a peek around the corner and finds Jared brandishing Jensen’s leather messenger bag that displays an impressive collection of bite marks, one corner being actually chewed off.

Seeing the damage, he can’t help himself. Jensen bursts out laughing. The sudden sound has the dogs yipping all excited, and Jared glare at him.

“You do realize that this does nothing to strengthen my position here?” He watches the happy dance the dogs are starting up as Jensen joins them in the kitchen, making all too obvious that this is a situation that has been lost the moment Jensen joined in. “They are never going to learn if you encourage them. They’ll never take me seriously now.”

Taking the ruined bag out of Jared’s hand, Jensen pulls him closer and kisses away the pout that starts forming on his lips. “They are all serious about you.”

“You are as bad as them.” The grumbled comment is followed by a deep kiss that has Jensen’s spine tingling. This is the perfect way to start a day.

Any further plans of kissing or making out are stopped by the twin growls of their stomachs. Jensen blushes slightly at the undignified sound of it, but Jared only grins widely at him.

“I’d say food is in order.” With a last peck on Jensen’s lips, Jared lets go of him and makes for the fridge. His destination does not go unnoticed by the infernal trio. Even before he reaches the fridge, he’s surrounded and assaulted with puppy eyes left, right, and center.

Jensen chuckles and turns to the cupboards, taking out plates and cutlery, preparing the table for breakfast. While Jared’s fighting for every slice of ham, Jensen calmly brews coffee and gets rolls from the freezer to bake them in the oven.

In the end they have a healthy breakfast of coffee and juice, ham and eggs, fresh rolls with butter and toast with butter and jam. Dean, Harley and Sadie are sulking in the living room, upset about the lack of ham being dropped.

“So, what are you going to do for Thanksgiving? It’s only a couple of weeks away.” The question is hard to understand because Jared is busy shoveling down his scrambled eggs while asking. “Any plans yet?”

Buttering a piece of toast and reaching for the glass with the strawberry jam, Jensen wonders why Jared asked. “Well, my family is coming for the holiday and is staying until the weekend. I was thinking that maybe if you’re at home, I could head south once they have returned home?”

“Um, I was thinking, I want to invite my family as well and maybe, you know, we could have the Thanksgiving dinner together. At my house?” This renders Jensen speechless. Never would he have expected this development. True, they have been out ever since Jared’s public declaration, but so far neither their friends nor their family have interacted in any way.

“Are you sure about that?” He can’t help but ask. This isn’t the dreaded meet the parents, this is the even more scary family meets family. Maybe combining the family meeting with the introduction to the parents is a bit too much all at once.

“I want this to be a holiday that we spend together with our families. I was able to charter a plane from Dallas to LA for the time, and with my parents visiting Jeff in Dallas the days before Thanksgiving, they could all fly in together.” This sounds even worse than the big Thanksgiving get-together. Their families traveling together. Who knows what they will do, talk about, plan?

He puts the toast down on his plate, a queasy feeling in his stomach. The idea of meeting Jared’s family is already rather intimidating for him. Never before has this particular scenario taken place. Jensen’s sex life had been existent, but only barely so, and none of his partners had been interested in a real relationship.

When he sits there, a little pale and staring sightlessly at his plate, Jared finally seems to notice that something is up. Somewhere in the back, Jensen hears the sound of a chair being pushed away from the table and soon after two arms wrap themselves around his shoulders.

“Hey, it will be great. Just you wait and see. My parents will love you and your parents will by won over by my family on their flight to LA.” The words are murmured against his ear, the hot breath ghosting softly over the sensitive shell, making him shiver. “There’s nothing you have to worry about.”

But that’s exactly what he does and he can’t help it. Jensen closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “I’ve never done this before.”

“What? Thanksgiving with both families?”

“No, met the family.” Somehow he can’t worry about what Jared’s parents must think about him. Jensen is the reason for their son leaving women behind and outing himself in front of the whole nation on TV. Somehow he can’t share Jared’s optimism.

The sigh that Jared blows against his ear is followed by a quick kiss on his cheek. “Wait here.”

With that the arms around his shoulders let go and the warmth that he had been leaning against disappears. Turning around in his seat, he watches Jared disappear up the stairs. Even though he still feels nervous about Jared’s proposal, he can’t help but wonder what item from upstairs is supposed to help him calm down.

His question is soon answered, when Jared reappears talking on his phone. He smiles happily while chattering away on the phone. When he catches Jensen watching him, he smiles wide and open, his eyes smiling with him. The sight of the it takes his breath away. Sometimes his relationship with Jared still seems like a figment of his imagination.

As he comes closer to the kitchen, Jensen can make out Jared’s part of the conversation. “Yeah, I promise. Of course. Well, how about you ask yourself?”

The phone is held out to him and Jensen stares at him, not sure what this is all about.

“It’s for you.” Cautiously Jensen takes the mobile from Jared and holds it to his ear. It’s not like the person on the other end can bite his ear off, but still, as long as he doesn’t know who he’s talking to, he can’t help being wary. “Go on.”

Jared is of no help. He just plops down in his chair and happily goes back to eating breakfast, doing his best to ignore the looks Jensen is giving him. With a last glare at the bowed head, he takes a deep breath and answers the phone.

“Hi, this is Jensen.” He wonders what the other person must think of him, staying quiet for so long, letting them wait.

“Hi Jensen!” The voice is female and mature, all kind and soft. It soothes his nerves almost instantly. “I’m Sherri, Jared’s mom.”

And just like that he’s nervous again. His eyes widen with shock and he stares at Jared who finally has stopped pretending to be ignorant of the conversation and nods encouragingly at him. What is he supposed to say to Jared’s mom? Should he call her Sherri or Mrs. Padalecki? Why does she want to talk to him?

“Um, hi.” He swallows and wonders about what he should contribute to their talk. “It’s nice talking to you.”

The moment the words leave his lips he winces. Could he be any lamer? The first time he gets to talk to Jared’s mother and he sounds like some pre-schooler. It’s all kinds of embarrassing and Jared’s amused snort that he tries to hide behind the glass of OJ, doesn’t help any.

“It’s nice talking to you too, Jensen. I have to say, Jared talks about you all the time, but I was wondering if he was embarrassed of his family for never letting us talk to you.” The comment is accompanied by a bubbly laugh that in it’s cheerfulness is all Jared. “Maybe he thought that you would go running once you got to know us.”

More good-natured laughter and Jensen starts to slowly relax. Jared’s mum is just like him. Funny, friendly and chatty. Not that Jensen would ever say in front of Jared that he’s chatty. He can just imagine the pout the comment would cause.

“Who knows. Jared’s mind works in mysterious ways sometimes.” This has Sherri laugh some more and Jared roll his eyes. “Jared said that you wanted to ask me something?”

“Yes, he told me that he asked about Thanksgiving and that you were not sure if we would want to spend it with you and your family. Well, I can’t speak for your family, but let me assure you that we would be delighted to meet you and your parents and siblings.” Hearing the proposition from Jared’s mom makes it far more logical and reasonable. It means that Jared didn’t just make it up on the go, but talked to his parents about it.

“My family were planning on staying with me in San Francisco, but I’m sure that they’ll be happy to come to LA and have Thanksgiving with all of you.” And now that he thinks about it, it’s the perfect possibility to get them together and make their relationship even more official.

“Perfect. I’m sure that we’ll have a great flight together.” Hopefully all the other Padalecki family members are equally excited about the whole affair. But from his own family he knows that a happy and content Mum is what it takes to make everyone else happy and content. Surely none of her other children or her husband would willingly upset her. “If you give me your mum’s number we could discuss dinner.”

After passing on his family home’s phone number, the call ends relatively fast and then they are back to finishing breakfast. Jensen can feel Jared’s eyes on him, waiting for a reaction. Jensen decides to let him stew some more and picks up the toast from his plate, taking a hearty bite.

When Jared starts to twitch nervously on his chair, he knows that the other is close to exploding. He fights hard the grin that is tugging at the corners of his lips. But the oh so subtle clearing of his throat has Jensen break, laughter bubbling out of him.

“Come on, it’s not fair to make me wait like this.” There’s definitely a whine in Jared’s voice and Jensen laughs harder again. “Jensen.”

“Sorry.” But it’s really hard to stop laughing.

Finally, a couple of minutes later, he has calmed down enough to talk without gasping for air. “I’m going to call my mum and my dad about the change of location in the afternoon and let them know that they should pack their fancy stuff because they’re going to meet a real movie star.”

Jared opts to ignore the sarcastic part of the answer and just grins dopily as soon as he hears the words ‘call mum and dad’ and ‘change of location. It’s times like these were it becomes obvious that for all his fame and fortune, it actually takes very little to make Jared happy.

“Awesome!” And with that he shovels the last of the scrambled eggs into his mouth. His lips are shiny with grease and his cheeks are bulging with the food. He looks like a giant ass chipmunk. “It’ll be great. Lisa and Jack will be there too.”

Jensen shakes his head and continues eating his toast. The taste of the home-made strawberry jam is sweet and fruity. Mary had been smuggling a couple of glasses into his house when bringing back glasses and plates, and other cooking utensils, after the big bar-b-q. According to her, she picked the berries in her garden.

Once breakfast is finished and the dishes are soaking in the sink, they coax the dogs out into the garden, tossing a Frisbee, making them run around, barking happily. Somehow Jensen can’t help but notice the similarity in behavior between the dogs and Jared. Give them something to play and they are all happy. All four of them.

After some time, he sits down on the stairs of the porch and watches Jared toss the disc and then wrestle it away as one of the dogs fetches it. He’s soon joined by one of the cats, Mr Spock for his pointy ears. At first the feline sits next to him, his head moving from side to side as he follows the goofing around in the garden, but when Jensen shifts his position a little, leaning back on his elbows, the tom cat immediately seizes the opportunity and climbs into his lap.

Once positioned correctly, he curls up and starts purring, the sound like the engine of a small diesel train. Jensen strokes the soft fur and scratches behind the ears. The caresses only increase the volume of the purring, and pointy claws are kneaded into his jean clad thigh.

“Enjoying yourself, Spock?” The only reaction his question gets is the closure of his eyes, and the small head leans back present his chin and throat to scratch and stroke. “Lazy bastard.”

He stays like this, cat in his lap and enjoying the sun until Jared jogs over, plopping down onto the stairs next to him. There’s a slight film of sweat on his brow and his hair is completely tousled from running around and wrestling with the dogs.

“Got yourself some company?” Jared reaches over and tickles the tom cat’s belly, having him crack one of his eyes open and watch the new human carefully. For a couple of seconds the feline allows the disrespectful treatment but then he folds up like a jackknife and starts biting and scratching the offending appendage. “Hey!”

The indignation on Jared’s face and the determination and annoyance on the cats has Jensen shake with laughter.

“Do something!” Jared tries to retrieve his hand but the tom cat is already prepared for that and jumps up, following his arch enemy onto Jared’s lap. With an outraged look on his face Jared cradles his abused hand to his chest, eyeing the small animal with distrust. “I’m onto you.”

When the big human doesn’t dislodge him and keeps from touching him all wrong the cat decides that it’s the perfect time to continue his prior occupation. Making two circles in the lap he’s conquered, the tom cat settles down, tail tugged close around his body and closes his eyes.

Jensen encourages Jared to pet the feline, nodding and smiling. Careful and cautious Jared reaches out to the furry head, and when he pets the cat, rubbing behind the soft ears, the cat cracks his eyes open, startling the human into inactivity.

“Dude, you are so pussy-whipped.” Jensen almost slips down from the stair he’s sitting on, laughing so hard he has to hold his sides. His undignified behavior earns him a haughty look from Mr. Spock and sulky pout from Jared.

The latter picks up where he left of with the petting and soon a rumbling purr can be heard again. Soon Jared is grinning like mad; all excited about the new friend he’s made. He knows most of the other cats already, but Mr. Spock is usually running around somewhere. It’s not often that he comes closer like he’s doing right now.

Watching the two of them, Jensen smiles content. He likes a morning like today. Even the excitement of the telephone conversation with Jared’s mom added to the greatness of the day he’s having. He leaves the two new found friends sitting on the stairs, and heads inside. He vaguely remembers dropping his phone last night when welcoming Jared back.

Fortunately the dogs only destroyed the messenger bag and left the mobile alone. Jensen finds the phone exactly where he lost it last night. He picks it up and presses dial. The last number he called is his parent’s landline in Dallas.

After the third ring the other end is picked up. “Ackles?”

“Hi mum.”

“Jensen!” There’s genuine pleasure in her voice as she finds out who’s calling. “Everything alright?”

“Everything’s perfect. Sorry for cutting the call so short last night.” He sits down on the stairs to the upper floor. “There’s been a change of plan for Thanksgiving. How does everyone feel about going to LA?”


	9. Chapter 9

The weeks leading into Thanksgiving dinner pass by without any greater happenings. At first Jared stays with Jensen, spending his days at the house, reading through scripts and giving telephone interviews. With him staying for so long with Jensen, Tom and Mike show up to check on them, most probably sent by all of Jensen’s friends to make sure that he’s alright.

In the beginning they are still a little prejudiced, trying to dislike Jared in principle, but even they can’t help but fall for the gravitational force that is one Jared Padalecki. Without much effort he wins the two guys over and soon they are admitting that Jared and Jensen are good for each other.

“You know, they were dead set on disliking you.” The knowing smirk he gets has Jensen laugh out loud. Leave it to Jared to feign ignorance, but, in truth, being well aware of what is going on. “Seems like you’re overdue for that Academy Award.”

“Your words in the Academy’s ear.” Jared carries the glasses to the kitchen and puts them into the sink. “You think Chris and Steve are ever going to be able to tolerate me at least?”

“With another repeat of today’s number I’m sure even Chris will be joining the Padalecki fan club.” Setting aside the plate with the left over pretzels, Jensen steps up to him and wraps his arms around Jared. “How about we go upstairs and I show you how Big a fan I am.”

The bad innuendo has Jared usher him laughingly to the stairs and up to the upper floor. It’s been like this the last couple of weeks. All the laughter and joking around is a welcome change from all the drama before and it shows that they can be together without hurting each other.

The weekend before Thanksgiving Jensen packs a huge bag and they load the dogs into the respective trucks. The initial idea of driving together had been dismissed because of the lack of space where the dogs are concerned and the additional car to drive family around.

Jensen had already arranged for time off in that week because of the preparations for the family visit and now that he’s going to LA, he finds himself with more than enough time to hang out and get some more sight-seeing and shopping done. Christmas is getting closer with everyday and the number of people who are on his Christmas shopping list is increasing.

So far there is his family (Which are easily twenty people since this includes aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews as well), his friends (another nine to ten people) and with Jared and his family (another five to six presents) there are still Chad and Zac (who has become a friend ever since his visit). Just thinking about the amount of presents he needs to buy has him break out in sweat.

With this in mind, Jensen drives south, a little nervous about the family meeting and at the same time eager to meet Jack and Linda again. The head of Jared’s security and his housekeeper have become like family. Linda calls him now and again, chatting about what is going on in their lives and exchanging the latest gossip.

It takes them eight and a half hours, a break included. When they turn into Jared’s street the sun is already low on the sky. The temperature is much warmer here than in San Francisco and Jensen cranks his window open, letting the balmy evening air inside.

The lights are on in the front of the house and as they park the cars, the front door opens, the light inside illuminating the slim figure of Linda. All of a sudden Harley and Sadie start barking in Jared’s car, causing Dean to join in.

“Calm down.” But nothing Jensen says manages to get the dog settled again. So he does the only thing he can do, he opens the trunk and lets the husky out. Dean jumps out and bounds over to the open front door, almost bowling Jensen over. Jared doesn’t fare any better.

While the dogs dance around Linda, barking and yipping at her all exitedly, Jensen heaves his heavy bag out of the trunk. He locks the truck up and follows Jared in a sedate pace to the house and their welcome committee which has gained another member.

“What did you do to the dogs?” Jack’s rumbling laughter has Linda chuckle with him.

“Tortured and starved them.” The way the three chuckleheads are acting one might actually be inclined to believe Jared’s statement. Dean winds himself around Jacks feet and Sadie and Harley whine pitifully, using their puppy dog eyes shamelessly on Linda. “The three of you should be ashamed of yourselves. Behaving like you do. Pitiful.”

Jared’s reprimand only causes more whining. This is a fight that the humans just can’t win.

Once the dogs have ensured their due adoration and petting from Linda and Jack, they are back to their usual selves and throughout the week they are rarely found inside, always running around and playing in the park that Jared calls his garden.

While the infernal trio spent the time goofing around, the humans were much more busy. Jensen and Jared helped Linda with preparing everything for the many visitors and Jack spent all of his time checking and double checking the house and the premises to make sure that everything is secure and none of his charges could be endangered.

On Wednesday, Jared and Jensen together with Jack head out in three cars, two of the three more nervous than they are willing to admit about the upcoming meeting with the families flying in from Texas. Jack grins amused at the pale faces and the forced cheerfulness.

“I thought you said that there’s nothing to worry about.” Jensen’s weak taunt is answered by a smile that is wobbly at best.

“Well, that was before they spent a couple of hours together on a plane talking about us.” When Jack’s botched up attempt of hiding his laughter has them grimace, Jensen decides that it’s stupid to get cold feet now. There had been numerous phone calls to each family member and everyone had been more than excited about spending the holiday together.

“Time to buckle up.” And with that Jensen strides into the airport and heads for the arrivals. He’ll get to see his parents, and Mack and Josh with Sara and the little bits. Additionally Jared’s mom and his dad, as well as his sister Megan and Jeff are visiting and according to Sherri they really want to get to know him. Things will be great.

He can hear the hurried pace of Jared trying to catch up and the more sedate pace of Jack trailing behind them. At the barrier to the baggage claim and the exit of the arrivals, he leans against the metal railing. Shoving his sunglasses on top of his head he carefully watches the people standing around and waiting for their bags.

Jared sidles up next to him, one arm sneaking around his middle. The warmth seeping through his shirt and skin has Jensen relax even more and he glances from the corner of his eye over at Jared, smiling encouragingly. The truth is he would prefer to kiss Jared, but out here in public he prefers to be more cautious about what he’s doing. Even if Jared is outed to the whole world, Jensen still thinks that pictures of any intimacy are not something he wants to share with public.

It doesn’t take long until the sliding doors open and a big group of people come through, laughing and chatting, creating quite a racket.

“Dude they are louder than a bunch of kids.” Jensen can only agree with Jared on that. His mum is laughing loudly, her eyes crinkling, as she walks side by side with what has to be Jared’s mum. The two of them are followed by the dads who are together with Jeff and Josh carrying the luggage for all of them. Sara is carrying Emily and walks right behind the mums. At the end of the group Megan and Mackenzie are chatting and gesturing, ignoring everything and everyone around them.

“Well, I guess any anxiousness was in vain.” Jared squeezes him lightly and then lets go, making for the motley crew that is their families.

“Jared!” Mrs Padalecki excitedly leads her new-found best friend to her son, smiling happily at him. It’s easy to see where Jared gets his smiles from. The only thing that’s missing are the trademark dimples. “Me and Donna went to the same school. What a coincidence.”

Jensen gets distracted from the conversation when Sara sidles up to him and hands Emily over. “Uncle Jensen, it’s your duty as a godfather to carry her around from now on.”

He ignores the joking in favour for some cuddling with his goddaughter. Emily wraps her arms around his neck and presses her face against shoulder. Her fingers are sticky and damp, but Jensen doesn’t mind. The little girl smells of sugar and of Sara’s perfume.

“Did you miss me, princess?” The blond curls bob as she nods and her little face turns towards him smiling up at Jensen. There’s some smudge on one of her cheeks that looks like chocolate and judging from the stain on her plush cat she’s holding, he might be right about his suspicion. “Come on, let’s go to the car.”

“Dean!” Her delighted squeal has Jensen wince and thinking about the other two dogs waiting at the house, he wonders how they are ever going to get her home again. At least there are no cats. Emily is totally in love with Jensen’s feline neighbours and he has to send photo updates on them every couple of weeks.

“Yeah, Dean is waiting for us at the house.” His comment is answered with excited clapping and a bright smile.

There is a short discussion about who is riding in which car and then Jensen’s and Jared’s mum along with Sara and Emily climb into Jensen’s truck, while the dads and Josh are making for the car Jack is driving. Jared gets the dubious honour of playing cab for Mack, Megan and Jeff. Thinking about it, Jensen is not sure what is worse, being stuck in a car with both mums or being teased by the younger sisters.

On the drive from the airport back to Jared’s the volume of the chatting is more than a little distracting. While Emily is sitting calmly in her booster seat, watching the other car pass by and clapping happily every time she sees a palm tree, his mum and Jared’s are talking about their high school time, what to make for Thanksgiving and meeting up for Christmas.

Hearing the plans for the next holidays, Jensen wonders why he had ever worried about this get together at all. Apparently they had been one big family already, they just hadn’t known about it. The way the two mums keep laughing and chattering one would assume that they had known each other their whole life.

When they turn into Jared’s street, he can’t wait to get out of the car. All the noise is starting to give him a headache.

The guard at he gate watches them through dark sunglasses and Jensen can’t help but grin at the expression on Sara’s face. Yes, it definitely takes some getting used to. The security, the big mansion, reporters (which they were able to forgo this time) and a real life Hollywood star take some getting used to.

“Impressive, huh.” He picks up Emily, who raises her arms, demanding he carry her again. “But don’t let he big ass house and the fancy bodyguards fool you. Jared is just like everyone else.”

As if to prove him right a high pitched squeal makes them turn towards the racket and they find Jared with Megan slung over his shoulder, and Mackenzie holding her sides as she laughingly watches them.

“Let me down, you big ape!” Jared just whoops and bouncingly carries her to the house where the dogs are dashing out of the front door, barking excitedly. Dean veers to the right when he sees Jensen’s dad and Josh, his tail wagging so hard his hind legs almost skid from side to side.

Sadie and Harley are dancing around Jared and his sister, yipping and barking. The display has everyone break out laughing and Jared has to let go of Megan to let her down because his hold on her was slipping.

While the guests and the hosts have been having fun, Jack and Walt (one of the security guys) have been carrying the luggage from the cars to the house. Once everything is inside, they head for the gate, Walt updating their boss on the happenings of the last hour.

“Dean!” Emily is kicking her feet and bangs them into Jensen’s stomach. With a pained groan he lets the little girl down. Emily makes grabby hands as runs over to the husky. Dean quickly abandons everyone to bound over to the little girl and twist around her, yipping and whining with happiness.

“Are you alright.” Sara carefully touches his elbow, looking at him with worry. “I’m sorry Emily kicked you like that.”

“Don’t worry I’m fine.” To reassure his sister-in-law, he smiles at her but he knows that it looks rather strained.

Sara frowns, but lets go of him. She knows that he’s not injured or anything but still a kick like that into the stomach is really painful. Keeping her hand on his elbow they follow the others into the house. Emily and Dean are already inside and Jared is waiting at the door for everyone to get in.

As they reach him, Jared grabs him and pulls him close. He doesn’t kiss him, because in front of their parents and siblings that would be kind of weird, at least at the moment. Maybe once they have settled somewhat and they know each other better it will not feel so awkward, like they are two teenagers necking front of their parents.

“We got them here and everyone is in once piece.” He can hear the relief in the voice and knows that Jared feels the same.

“Not for the lack of trying.” With a teasing smirk, Jensen ushers him inside and leads him to the group of family members. “Maybe you should tell them where everyone’s supposed to stay.”

Linda peeks out of the kitchen and smiles contentedly at the display in front of her. It stands to reason that she would enjoy a house full of people. She had had to promise to let the mums help with the cooking, but the housekeeper’s family is going to join them for dinner. As will Jack’s lady friend.

“Okay everyone, attention please!” The announcement gets almost drowned by the dogs and Emily and the talking. “Hey! Very Important Person speaking!”

That has Jeff, Josh, Meg and Mackenzie snorting and Jared’s mum raise her eyebrow, but at least everyone stops making a racket. Even the dogs have stopped the goofing around and look at Jared expectantly.

Jensen hides his snicker behind his hand and does his best to portray the same sternness that Jared is showing. Going by the amused looks he’s getting from everyone he’s not all that successful. Megan and Mackenzie even have the gall to openly grin at him, wiggling their eyebrows.

“Okay, the rooming list reads as follows.” And with that Linda, Jensen and Jared direct everyone to their rooms to get the suitcases stowed away and give everyone the chance to take a shower, change clothes and get settled before the bar-b-q in the evening.

When Jensen shows Jared’s parents to their room, which is right next to the one of his parents, Mrs Padalecki lets her husband carry the luggage inside the room while she stays behind with Jensen in the corridor.

“You know, I have been wanting to thank you for a very long time.” There are many things that Jensen expected to hear from Jared’s mum, in varying degrees of like and dislike, but a thank you never been on the list of possible reactions.

Baffled he blinks at her. “Um.”

It’s by far not the best reaction and answer, but at the moment he doesn’t know what else to say. He can hardly answer with a ‘You’re welcome’.

Jared’s mum smiles at him and takes a step closer. Without hesitation she pulls him towards her and gives him a tight hug. Up close Jensen notices that she smells like sun and there are faint traces of the perfume she’s wearing. It’s different but still very close to what his mum smells like. The best way to describe it is to say that she smells of home and love. Like a mum should.

“Mum!” The sudden cry makes Jensen tense, but Mrs Padalecki just squeezes him tight a last time before stepping away. Almost immediately after Jared’s mum has let go of him, Jared wraps his arms around him and he tugs Jensen back against his chest. “Stop that. You’ll make him like you more than me.”

“Like anyone would prefer you to us to begin with.” Megan’s saucy reply has Jared tug Jensen away and down to corridor towards the front of the house.

“Let’s go and help Linda. I don’t like the way my family is trying to get them all for themselves.” Jensen turns his head to be able to look at Megan and Mrs Padalecki. He grins at them and shrugs his shoulders, signalling his innocence. “Don’t encourage them!”

Megan bats her eyes at him and Jared’s mum just laughs. So far things are going great. Both families are more than comfortable with each other and Jared’s mum and sister seem to like him. Jensen feels like flying, high from the elation and the giddiness that wells up in him.


	10. Chapter 10

It’s not really surprising after the great start they had, that Thanksgiving is a hit with everyone. Three mums (two flesh and blood and one surrogate), lots of siblings and two and a half dads make a big and boisterous family. On Thanksgiving Day, Jared’s villa is, for the first time ever, almost bursting with all the people that are bustling around and preparing for the feast.

Girlfriends join in and even Chad shows up in the afternoon, uncharacteristically polite to the mum’s and charming the younger sisters.

After all the excitement and the chaos, it takes almost three days before things are back to normal. Jensen heads back to San Francisco, Dean whining pitifully in his kennel, complaining about the loss of his two partners in crime.

A week after Jensen’s return home, he leaves his canine house mate in the care of Tom and Mike and flies to Alberta where Danneel brings him up to date on all the gossip and drama he missed out on since their last phone call. It amuses him to no small extent that even though they are not hunted by paparazzi and watched by the public, the scientific staff of the university manages to live through more drama and scheming than all of Hollywood combined

His guest lecture lasts for four days and he makes sure to meet up with Dr. Kripke who is more than a little interested in Jensen’s work for the establishment of a glaciology and polar environment sub department of the EESS. David’s and AE’s involvement in the whole project and course work is an additional bonus. With the cooperation of UA and The Scott’s Institute in Britain, Jensen is sure that he will be able to win over other universities as well, helping the new department with the possibility of working on international projects and offering the students the possibility to spend some time abroad.

When Jared is waiting for him at the arrivals, Jensen is more than a little surprised, but he’s too happy about Jared’s presence to wonder about the reason for it in the first place. Things get clearer once they are home and Jared proudly tells him about the academy nomination for “The Worst Journey”. The biggest surprise is a certain request though.

“I want you to come to the show with me.” Jensen just stares at him numbly until the words actually make sense in his head.

“You want me to do what?” The idea is so surreal he has a hard time convincing himself that Jared really said the words he did.

His answer is a bright smile and an amused twinkle in Jared’s eyes. There are small signs of Jared’s excitement in the way he stops his movements once they get too wide and his gestures are becoming more expressive. It’s hard, almost impossible, for him to reign himself in. Jensen knows that Jared would prefer to hug him and squeeze the daylights out of him, but with all the strangers around and the definite possibility of paparazzi lurking behind some corner; he does his best to act all cool and calm.

Well, as cool and calm as Jared can be.

“Jared, you can’t be serious. At the last public event you took me too I drank too much and turned into a gay yenta.” The mere thought of what might happen on the red carpet of the biggest and most important event of the film industry has him feeling queasy. With his luck Vanessa Hudgens will hunt him down and tear him a new one. In front of dozens of cameras.

“It was awesome and the Academy Awards will be even better. Just think about all the hobnobbing you’ll be able to do with Steven Spielberg, Jack Nicholson, Nicole Kidman and many others.” The way he beams at Jensen one would think that Jared, not Jensen, had never met any of those people before.

“Hobnobbing?” He just raises his eyebrow and leaves it at that.

But Jared is not phased at all. He grabs Jensen’s shirt and pulls him closer, grinning mischievously at him. His tongue flicks out and licks over his lips. It’s just a second, but Jensen has been missing him the last couple of days and as he leans forward his lips brushing against the smiling mouth he wonders how he was able to live without this dork in his life.

As cheesy as it made him sound, he wouldn’t want to miss Jared for anything. All the heartbreak and misunderstandings were worth what he has now. As far as his life goes, it’s damn near perfect.

“So, you going to come with me to the show?” The words are spoken low and the breath ghosts over Jensen’s lips. It sends a chill down his spine.

He actually has to swallow before he can reply. His eyes flicking up he sees the glee in Jared’s. Jensen is well aware that his feelings and reactions are known and sometimes shamelessly exploited. But as long as he profits from it in the end, he doesn’t really mind.

“Will Chad be there?” If some of the people he knows in Hollywood are going to be there, he will at least be able to talk to someone when Jared is busy giving speeches after he wins his award.

“Hell yeah, and Hayden and Zac and most of the people that went to boot camp with me.” The thoughts of the science station in Alaska has Jensen smile and he thinks that they should do some get together with all the people that worked there. He hasn’t seen or talked to most of them and even though sometimes personalities had clashed, the team had been great to live and work with.

“Hey,” Jared is cupping his neck and looking into his eyes. “What has you so quiet?”

“Sometimes, for a second, I miss living at the science station.” It’s true. It doesn’t happen often and it’s over before he even realizes what it is, but there are moments when he wonders what he would be doing now if Jared and his colleagues hadn’t been sent to Alaska on a boot camp for their upcoming movie.

“D’you regret leaving the North and settling here?” Jensen doesn’t have to look at Jared’s face to know that sometimes Jared worries that Jensen is going to regret his decision to settle down in here in California.

With a bright smile he thumps his hand against Jared’s chest. “And miss out on all this? The whining and the mess and the lurking reporters?”

“Ass.” But just like that the shadow that has been lurking in Jared’s eyes is gone and they are laughing about the sappiness that has recently started to take them over. “So?”

“So?” He knows that he’s being deliberately obtuse, but he enjoys teasing Jared too much.

“Are you going to come with?” The question is accompanied by an eyeroll.

After letting him squirm for another couple of seconds, Jensen presses a kiss against Jared’s jaw and nods. “Of course I will, Mister Movie Star.” They will have to call their families and friends, celebrate the great news, but right now they are not willing to move from where they are.


End file.
